Why experts predict metaverse property investment could be better than physical

Original author: Olivier Acuna

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Let’s not go any further. According to a Fortune report, there is actually a “land grab” going on, and it has no end, apparently. It has created a real estate bubble of sorts in which the cheapest available Metaverse plots are $13,000.

Okay, let’s step back a bit, please, because, for that kind of cash, you can buy an apartment in Mexico City or a rural home in Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, or Greece. Don’t believe it? Check out Property Under 20K and see for yourself. Take a look at this opportunity for two homes on 200 square meters of land in Sevilleja de Jara, Spain, for example. 

But wait! In November of last year, Republic Realm, a virtual land developer, paid a whopping $4.3 million for a Metaverse property from video game company Atari. According to the Wall Street Journal, this was the largest metaverse property sale publicized yet.

One week before that record-breaking purchase, the Metaverse Group, a subsidiary of Tokens.com, had bought a plot of digital land in the so-called fashion district of Decentraland for about $2.3 million.

These digital real estate transactions shine a bright light on the growing appetite for Metaverse land, the online 3D space of interconnected virtual worlds where people’s digital twins can socialize, work, shop and play games.

Late last year, Grayscale, a leading global digital currency investment firm, said the metaverse has the potential to become a $1 trillion annual revenue opportunity for advertising, digital events, e-commerce, trading and earning crypto, and hardware.

Facebook could have arguably sparked the steep surge in metaverse interest because its controversial founder Mark Zuckerberg officially announced a complete rebranding in October of last year, including changing its name to Meta.

A very successful serial entrepreneur from Australia who has various NFT projects in October, during the 2021 DeFi Live London event, told a group of crypto enthusiasts he would never invest in physical property again, only in metaverse land because of its higher profit potential.

A Fayre prediction of the metaverse

Luis Carranza, Fayre CEO and Founder, predicted 2022 would be a multi-billion Metaverse year, adding that he has invested a total of 42 ETH (approximately $150,000) in plots with Sandbox and Decentraland. “I purchased a 3×3 Sandbox plot from Beeple, the artist who auctioned off an NFT collection for $69 million at Christie’s. 

“Throughout 2022, you can expect to see even bigger Metaverse land grabs and more record-breaking digital property transactions,” said the head of Fayre, an up-and-coming NFT marketplace for brands, fans, and consumers. 

“Digital landowners are going to see greater revenues from renting their virtual properties,” he said. “The architectural development of Metaverse buildings will see huge progress this year, and although hard to believe, we will also soon see buildings being sold in the Metaverse.”

Currently, selling buildings, apartments, or houses is not yet possible, but renting is already happening, said Carranza.

“You can already become a landlord in the Metaverse,” he emphasized. “Big brands are already purchasing land, but others may see the benefit of renting to build virtual shops to sell their physical products.”

Fayre already has concrete plans to build museums for famous football clubs and other sports brands worldwide. Virtual places where fans can visit and see digital exhibitions of their favorite players, historical images of famous goals, and purchase NFTs with utility that goes beyond our imagination.

“Facebook alone is investing over $10 billion in the creation of their Metaverse project, and that is a clear indication of where Web3 and virtual reality is headed,” said Carranza. “Yes, building skyscrapers, homes, and shopping malls will be possible, and they will be sold.”

IoTeX shares their vision of the metaverse

Jing Sun is a highly experienced international investment expert with a trajectory that spans over 13 years. She heads the Investment and Ecosystem efforts for IoTeX, a top 90 blockchain project founded in Silicon Valley in 2017. Her firms’ vision is to connect the physical and the virtual worlds with a laser focus on MachineFi, the decentralized machine economy estimated to be $12 trillion by 2030.

“The demand for digital assets will continue to grow dramatically,” Sun said. “And as people spend more time in the virtual world, that growth will be even greater.”

Sun further explained that “the ownership of digital assets has expanded from digital identity, digital goods to digital properties or land. NFTs are driving the recent boom of virtual real estate. Non-fungible tokens make it easy for liquidity and VR/AR technology advancement because they bring an immersive experience into the virtual world.

“The challenge now is how to evaluate scarcity in the virtual world,” Sun added. “Or is there any scarcity in the metaverse when teleport can bring players to anywhere, and physical boundaries don’t really exist? Location seems to no longer be relevant, and what matters more now visit tractions from audiences worldwide.”

Sun is also an IoTeX co-founder. She has an expert understanding of where the virtual world is headed and how vital the metaverse is when we consider that automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence are advancing at lightning speed.

“We have done our research at IoTeX and know that shortly the workforce will be 40% automated or represented by machines, which are certainly shaping how people will live and work in the future,” she said.

“While machines and robots will produce the essential goods for physical needs, it will free up the human workforce. And people will likely earn a living mainly by making innovative products or providing virtual services from within the metaverse.”

More profitable than traditional property

Jason Fernandes, a globally-recognized crypto and blockchain expert with a world of experience in technological innovation, also weighed in saying he has already heard of architects designing buildings in the metaverse that will be rented.

“Virtual apartments, malls and offices are already a thing in the metaverse. Soon, luxury clothing and watch stores will also be represented in the metaverse,” said Fernandes, a Co-Founder of AdLunam, a unique IDO launchpad that uses unique Proof-of-Attention and Engage-to-Earn models to democratize early stage crypto investments previously inaccessible to people lacking large digital asset staking powers.

“Over the next few years, as the metaverse landrush firmly takes root, the virtual real estate market may well prove much more profitable than traditional property development, sales and rentals in the real world,” he added.

Credibility difficult to speculate: Mati Greenspan

Quantum Economics CEO and Founder, Mati Greenspan says his team is very bullish on Sand and Mana and have been over the last few months.

“Although our team has been very bullish on Sand and Mana, Quantum Economics has yet to invest in any virtual land,” Greenspan, a highly-regarded crypto and blockchain market analyst. “The dynamics of this market make it incredibly difficult to speculate on what future value might look like.

“Unlike Bitcoin or physical real estate, there is no maximum supply,” he pointed out. “Although metaland is not completely fungible, how important will location be in a world where you can portal anywhere instantly? Rest assured, if we do make a purchase it will be to build on the land and not to flip a biscuit.”

Final “virtual” thoughts

As in physical real estate, Metaverse property is more expensive depending on where it is, and that really makes sense, and Andrew Kiguel, a co-founder and the CEO of Tokens.com agrees.

“It’s location, location, location,” he told the New York Times. “A parcel of land in the downtown core, which has a lot of visitor traffic, is worth more than a parcel of land in the suburbs. There’s a scarcity value.”

Hrish Lotlikar, a co-founder and the chief executive of SuperWorld, also spoke with NYT on the subject. “You can buy locations that you love, whether it’s Central Park or the pyramids in Egypt. What you’re buying is the virtual land that covers the earth at those locations.”  

Real estate investments in the metaverse are still significantly speculative, so it is still too soon to know for sure whether the current boom is the next big thing or the next big bubble. What can be said for sure is that with Facebook becoming Meta and remote work becoming more pervasive globally, the met

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