FOR many real estate investors, the notion of buying purely digital land in the metaverse seems absurd. Yet, eye-watering sums of money are now frequently changing hands for parcels of digital property, and as the market ramps up, big players in the traditional financial system are beginning to pay attention.
What is metaverse real estate?
Current predictions suggest that the metaverse property market will hit $1billion in 2022 and $5billion by 2026 with prices for land exploding after Facebook’s rebrand as Meta in 2021. But what exactly is metaverse property?
Buying land in the metaverse, very simply, can be compared to buying a personal website. What you are purchasing is a place to build whatever you please, whether that be a museum for your NFT collection, a place to play games, or simply a space to hang out with your friends. The only difference is that this ‘website’ is hosted within the digital 3D space of the metaverse.
Currently, the metaverse property market is mostly split across the ‘big four’: Sandbox, Decentraland, Cryptovoxels and Somnium.
The Sandbox currently dominates the market, making up 62 per cent of all ‘land’ across all the big four platforms and three-quarters of sales so far in 2022.
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The most expensive metaverse properties
1. Curzio Research – $5million
In what is now the single largest sale of metaverse property, $5million has been spent to buy a series of commercial metaverse properties on the TCG World platform.
Financial publishing firm Curzio Research were behind the monumental deal, intending to turn the 19 parcels of land into a virtual HQ for the company.
The property is based in the Asia region of TCG World, very near WallStreetBets.
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2. Republic Realms – $4.2million
In a close second, in November 2021 previous price records were smashed when Republic Realms spent $4.2 million buying up digital land in The Sandbox.
Staking their claim in the biggest of the metaverse property markets, Republic Realms purchased 792 parcels of land, representing over 7.9 million square meters of game area in one of the most central parts of the metaverse.
The land was purchased from Atari, the games company, with whom Republic Realm plans to co-develop some of the parcels.
Republic Realms are also behind some of the metaverse’s other biggest projects. Most notably building Metajuku, which claims to be the first metaverse shopping mall, as well as developing over 100 luxury private islands.
3. Tokens.com – $2.4million
Decentraland has fast become one of the most valuable metaverse property markets, with a current floor price of 2.1 ether.
Tokens.com, which is a subsidiary of Metaverse Group, dropped $2.4million on 116 parcels of land in Decentraland, representing 6,090 virtual square feet.
Andrew Kiguel, CEO of Tokens.com, bought the property for 618,000 MANA, Decentraland’s own token currency, when the price of MANA was at an all-time high of $5.41. The price has now dropped to $3.
The land is situated in Decentraland’s Fashion Street district where other big-name brands such as Gucci, Prada, and Ralph Lauren, have also bought properties.
Tokens.com hopes that the area’s higher foot traffic will create a valuable opportunity for advertising in the future.
4. Axie Infinity – $2.3million
Also in November of 2021, a rare plot of land in Axie Infinity was sold to an unknown buyer for $2.3million.
Axie Infinity revealed in a tweet that a piece of land had sold for 550 ether, saying “we believe this is the largest sum ever paid for a single plot of digital land”.
Created by the Vietnamese Sy Mavis, Axie Infinity is one of the biggest play to earn NFT platforms in the industry.
The gamified system allows users to create digital pet axolotls in order to play games, buy land, and sell axolotl related NFTs.
Playing the game can earn Axie Infinity’s very own token, Smooth Love Potion (SLP).
Honourable mention – The Metaflower Super Mega Yacht
While its sale price may not be as astronomical as some of the land currently trading on the metaverse, the sale of the Metaflower shows just how much some people are willing to pay for digital prestige.
The world’s first NFT Mega Yacht sold for 149 ether, $650,000, making it the most expensive NFT in The Sandbox at the time.
