You're probably sick of hearing the word "metaverse" by now, but when something this big and exciting captures the imagination of the digital world, well, sometimes, you just have to run with it. The metaverse promises to become the next big thing for investors who aren't afraid of a lot of risk, and it's a popular place for people of all ages to gather and participate in events like concerts, shows, and art galleries, among other experiences.
With all the hype on overdrive, it might seem like the time to buy land in the metaverse has passed. The truth is quite the opposite. Although admittedly, the best time to have purchased real estate in the metaverse was about six months ago, the second-best time to buy it is now -- right now, right this moment. It's absolutely not too late to buy land in the metaverse for so many reasons.
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1. New communities continue to be built
Whether it's growth within existing platforms, like The Sandbox's recently announced expansion plan to create a virtual Hong Kong-themed city called Mega City, or new platforms starting from scratch, the metaverse is still in a growth phase and expanding by the day.
Not all of these communities will make it, of course, but the sheer amount of investment going into the space means a lot of companies are really trying hard to make the metaverse sticky. And they wouldn't be doing that if they didn't anticipate interest to continue to grow.
Even Gartner, Inc, a Connecticut-based technology research and consulting company, projects that the metaverse is a long-term trend in the making, including it as a long-term trend in its "Emerging Technologies and Trends Impact Radar for 2022."
2. Big brands are already in the metaverse, and a lot more are coming
Samsung just announced the launch of a virtual store in Decentraland (MANA -2.81%), but it's hardly the first or only brand to stake a claim in the metaverse. Fashion brands have taken a liking to the metaverse, with brands from Gucci to Nike arranging events or partnering with NFT artists to create virtual versions of very real and popular goods. Fashion Week in Decentraland is a big deal, and it's coming up in March. Even the Australian Open is planning a days-long virtual event to correspond with the real one.
Also coming soon to the metaverse include such not-so-sexy but endlessly useful companies as PricewaterhouseCoopers and accounting firm Prager Metis.
3. Prices continue to rise steadily
According to data from Nonfungible.com, a third-party marketplace where $692.11 million of metaverse real estate was bought and sold in 2021, the 30-day average price of a metaverse property in Decentraland, for example, was $6,849.68 on November 1. Although there was a bit of an unusual spike at the end of November -- when some headline-grabbing multi-million dollar properties were sold -- as of January 14, 2022, the 30-day average price of a Decentraland property sold through the platform is $13,427.76.
The growth is even more visible if you go back to August 1, 2021, when the 30-day average price in Decentraland was $1,523.58. Although those early gains are not likely to continue, it's easy to see a day when that average unimproved $13k property goes for $15k, or $17k, or even $20k -- and that's not to mention the commercial real estate parcels that seem to have absolutely no value cap in sight.
Interest in metaverse real estate only continues to grow
While there are certainly people buying things in the metaverse for fear of missing out (FOMO), as well as big companies that may not fully understand what they're getting into but know other brands are doing it, there are also plenty of very savvy, very smart people getting into this space.
Buying in the metaverse continues to be a very risky proposition. If you choose the wrong metaverse platform, you could lose absolutely everything you've invested. However, there are also enormous future opportunities for people who buy sooner rather than later.
In my opinion, metaverse real estate has enormous growth potential. This is especially true as more brands enter the space and work hard to create experiences that simply can't be had in the real world due to limiting factors like physics or, just as likely, an ongoing pandemic that shows no signs of letting up.
