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Last year, if you were asked what Gucci was, walking dead, what Atari and Snoop Dogg have in common is that you’ll probably be scratching your head all the time. By the end of 2021, what they have in common is digital real estate in a virtual world, and a brand strategy so comprehensive that they leave less progressive brands behind. Each of the above has built no less than 75 lands on a virtual world platform called The Sandbox. That’s the equivalent of hundreds of acres of our physical world today.
Eminent personalities from all walks of life are recognizing Metaverse’s value-adding aspect of real estate and its fully immersive experience, offering customers a new dimension to enjoy the brands they love. It’s not just entertainers and TV shows that are flocking; hotel companies such as Hong Kong-based Regal Hotels Group recently announced their intention to partner with the University of Hong Kong to build a digital green city called Meta Green and focus on developing an eco-friendly sustainable society.
Related: 3 Ways to Build Sustainable Wealth in the Metaverse
The rise of digital real estate
The urgency to acquire these digital assets is nothing short of a red stampede. In January, The Sandbox released another 156 lots, which sold out in two seconds. Famous NFT giant Bored Ape Yacht Club has offered 55,000 land deeds for sale in their newly announced metaverse called Otherside. Even if users hadn’t entered the land, the titles sold out in a day, with a total of $350 million in sales. With virtual land deeds off the shelf at this rate, your average investor is undoubtedly taking a second and third look at the metaverse, and an inevitable sense of FOMO is developing.
Average home prices in Los Angeles rose 15% from 2021 to 2022, while a piece of land in the sandbox rose 700% at the same time. The numbers are so staggering you might think they were made up.Similar growth can be seen in Decentraland, where a package was sold for $1,900 in 2017 sold again This year is $14,460, an appreciation rate of 761%. Surprising appreciation isn’t the only thing that makes digital real estate ownership seem more favorable, it’s also easier to manage. Our hypothetical investor Jane Doe just used her savings to replace the shoddy floors of her Airbnb. With amazing appreciation, no maintenance and no property taxes, digital real estate could represent an economic opportunity we’ve never seen before.
Related: Five things metaverse skeptics learned by buying real estate in a virtual universe
The value of virtual land
Still, paying $2.4 million for real estate you can only see on a computer screen is an unfathomable concept to most people.For companies, such as Metaverse Groupthe commercial possibilities are so obvious they set the record for the largest virtual land acquisition by purchasing 116 parcels of land in Decentraland last novemberAs tenants like Forever 21 and Skechers work to build virtual storefronts, their decisions to develop land in the Decentraland fashion district have proven to mimic real-life investment opportunities.
“Not only do we have valuable virtual real estate, but we also generate recurring revenue,” commented Andrew Kiguel, executive chairman of Metaverse Group.Even with one-time sales in the millions in Decentraland, The Sandbox is still largest metaverse Based on transaction volume, while other contenders Cryptovoxels and Somnium Space are still vying for supremacy.
What about the location? Is this still a deciding factor when evaluating Metaverse real estate, or are we just taking the numbers out of the hat? Many believe that location has nothing to do with land value since you can teleport from one end of the virtual world to the other with the click of a button.However, Sam Huber, CEO of Metaverse advertising agency Admix, believes that “bringing a big brand or a big project Increases the value of the surrounding land.“
How can this be untrue when the land next to Snoop Dogg’s estate sold for $453,000 and you can buy land on the outskirts of the sandbox map for considerably less? There seems to be a difference between investing in land next to Gucci and moving to land next door to User0017490 in the Metaverse.
It’s clear that digital real estate ownership in the virtual world is taking off dramatically, so if you’re interested in joining Gucci, Snoop Dogg, and many others, don’t miss out.
