Virtual real estate sales increased by 180% in 2022

Analysts at Parcel recorded an increase in sales from $0,4 billion to $1,4 billion

23.01.2023 - 12:45

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2 min

What’s new? Representatives of Parcel, a Web 3.0 marketplace, published a report on the state of the virtual real estate market. According to the analysts, the volume of sales of plots and buildings in 2021 was $0,5 billion, and in 2022, it exceeded $1,4 billion. Year-on-year growth was 180%. The report’s authors highlighted that virtual real estate posted some of the best results among all categories of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The full version of the report

Report details. Despite the macroeconomic downturn, the real estate market in the metaverses grew strongly and showed significant growth. The Otherside project accounted for about 75% of all sales. The most expensive lot here sold for a record 333 ETH (~$1 million at the time of the transaction). It was followed by Sandbox (11%), Decentraland (5%), NFT Worlds (8%), and Somnium Space (1%).

Otherside is a blockchain-based metaverse from Yuga Labs, launched May 1, 2022. The company raised $450 million in a seed funding round led by venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz to develop it. Yuga Labs owns the rights to some of the most popular NFT collections, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and CryptoPunks.

Overall, the virtual real estate price index increased by 78% in the past two years, despite a 63% drop in 2022. The number of Ethereum blockchain-based metaverses with a market capitalization of $1 million or more quadrupled last year, from 5 to 20. And most users own virtual lands for either less than 7 days or more than 6 months. Rarer lands are more likely to retain value during a market downturn than regular plots.

Earlier, billionaire Mark Cuban called buying real estate in metaverses “the dumbest” idea ever and a waste of money. He noted that in the real world, real estate is valuable because the land is a scarce resource, whereas, in the digital space, space is unlimited.

To learn more about the options for making money from virtual real estate, read GetBlock Magazine’s article.

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