What Is Virtual Real Estate?

Metaverse platforms intentionally limit the size of their digital worlds, so they can parcel out pieces of land to be bought and sold on virtual real estate marketplaces.

Across the top 4 metaverse platforms — Sandbox, Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, and Somnium — there were over $500 million worth of virtual real estate sales just last year. Virtual real estate got a boost during the pandemic, when people started spending more time online, and then another one when Facebook changed its name to Meta.

Virtual real estate is a highly speculative investment.

Still, there are some basic principles to evaluating virtual real estate.

• Building something interactive on the land can raise a property’s value because it allows you to charge for admission o...