The virtual real estate market is booming, largely due to the rising popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which represent ownership of virtual assets such as virtual land and buildings.
Investors are flocking to the virtual real estate market for a variety of reasons — from owning their own piece of digital property to expanding their virtual presence in the metaverse.
According to a recent report by Parcel, virtual real estate NFT sales exceeded $1.4B in 2022, compared to $0.5B in 2021.
The report examines the five metaverses that account for 90% of the total market cap for virtual real estate — Decentraland, Otherside, The Sandbox, NFT Worlds, and Somnium Space.
As for virtual land sales volume, Otherside made up approximately 75% of last year’s total, followed by The Sandbox (11%), Decentraland (5%), NFT Worlds (8%), and Somnium Space (1%).
Based on the average price per land parcel, Decentraland had the best performance in 2022, returning -4%. Otherside, The Sandbox, NFT Worlds, and Somnium Space were next.
Regarding holding time – the time between when a piece of land is bought and sold – The Sandbox stood out as delivering the highest percentage of buy-only transactions (54%), followed by Somnium Space (50%).
The top three sales in 2022 were all Otherside plots, with Decentraland coming in second, followed by The Sandbox.
These statistics demonstrate the metaverse’s potential and the rising value that people place on digital assets; an increasing interest fueled by advancements in VR technology and investments made by major and small companies.
