Weekly Economic Update

This week I take a look at the emergence of a new type of property.

Welcome to Ray White Metaverse!

Coming soon - Ray White Metaverse - the best place to buy and sell your virtual property. Is it coming soon? It has been around a while but virtual property is now attracting more widespread interest. So much so that The Economist magazine has estimated that it could generate revenues of up to $US30 trillion. Already, real money is exchanging on property that exists only in the virtual world.

Two of the biggest players in virtual real estate are gaming platform The Sandbox and virtual worlds like Decentraland. Last year, more than 65,000 real estate transactions took place in The Sandbox to a total value of $US350 million. On the virtual plots purchased, owners can play games and partake in experiences. In Decentraland, more than 21,000 transactions took place to a value of $US110 million.

Like real world real estate, prices are rising rapidly - land in The Sandbox has risen from $1,000 per land in March 2021 to $17,000 per land in February 2022. Not even Byron Bay has experienced such a sharp rise.