24 March 2022, Europe | News
Let's be honest: Would you invest in a property that you can't see or touch, but for which there seems to be a market? Many Hollywood stars and tech representatives are advertising the opportunities here with references to branding, value enhancement and a "completely new efficient world of interaction". Even better, would you send your avatar forward to communicate and do business?
It may be that the reasoning error lays in the opening question already. Because access to the Metaverse world is more likely a new technical and economic question of faith between blockchain, crypto-assets and NFTs. The fact that these 3 components are promised a great future, seems to be confirmed more and more.
At this point you may ask yourself: what does this have to do with real estate, Catella or your company? By the arguments of the Metaverse supporters, more than you think. The future of the real estate industry will also take place in virtual space. "Nonsense shortly before a market turning point", "Tulip bulbs" or even "Second Life - does that still exist?" were just some of the statements made as part of our research on this topic by the traditional representatives of our guild who have so far been on the sidelines. But it is precisely from this branch of the economy that we have been asked more and more often in recent weeks how we assess Metaverse and Co - almost all of them can be assigned to the CORE segment.
Did you know that currently:
- The Sandbox, Decentraland, Cryptovoxels and Sominum Space are just a small sample of all the platforms for buying and selling properties in the Metaverse? (even though they are the biggest ones)
- The average price per square meter is currently leveling off between $1.40 and $68.21? (for comparison: The average price* per square meter in European capitals goes from $1,100 in Chișinău, Moldova to $15,600 in Paris, France)
*price per sqm for an average apartment in the city center - The combined value of all properties of the "big four" lies over $3.5 billion?
- Or that becoming a virtual landowner is not that complicated?
The fact is that something new is happening here in front of us. Of course, it is also clear that a system of experts, financiers or notaries that has been developed and proven over centuries is increasingly facing challenges that at least call into question continued persistence. Better: if the world is crying out for more digitalisation, is it enough to automatically read in rental contracts or read sales contracts for hours? Certainly not. If you approach this overall topic impartially, brush aside the “bling bling” and understand the first Second Life from 2003 as “ahead of its time”, then what remains is a deeply meaningful and, above all, economically efficient structure. Blockchain, tokens and bitcoin: why not transfer them to real estate? Certainly not in the short term, but that's what innovation looks like.
Download Infographic Metaverse (PDF)
