We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free – so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Our articles, interactive tools, and hypothetical examples contain information to help you conduct research but are not intended to serve as investment advice, and we cannot guarantee that this information is applicable or accurate to your personal circumstances. Any estimates based on past performance do not a guarantee future performance, and prior to making any investment you should discuss your specific investment needs or seek advice from a qualified professional.
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.
All reviews are prepared by our staff. Opinions expressed are solely those of the reviewer and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including any rates, terms and fees associated with financial products, presented in the review is accurate as of the date of publication.
Financing a home purchase
Refinancing your existing loan
Finding the right lender
Additional Resources
Elevate your Bankrate experience
Get insider access to our best financial tools and content
Compare accounts
Use calculators
Get advice
Bank reviews
Elevate your Bankrate experience
Get insider access to our best financial tools and content
Compare by category
Compare by credit needed
Compare by issuer
Get advice
Looking for the perfect credit card?
Narrow your search with CardMatch™
Personal Loans
Student Loans
Auto Loans
Loan calculators
Elevate your Bankrate experience
Get insider access to our best financial tools and content
Best of
Brokerages and robo-advisors
Learn the basics
Additional resources
Elevate your Bankrate experience
Get insider access to our best financial tools and content
Get the best rates
Lender reviews
Use calculators
Knowledge base
Elevate your Bankrate experience
Get insider access to our best financial tools and content
Selling a home
Buying a home
Finding the right agent
Additional resources
Elevate your Bankrate experience
Get insider access to our best financial tools and content
Car insurance
Homeowners insurance
Other insurance
Company reviews
Elevate your Bankrate experience
Get insider access to our best financial tools and content
Retirement plans & accounts
Learn the basics
Retirement calculators
Additional resources
Elevate your Bankrate experience
Get insider access to our best financial tools and content
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free – so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Our articles, interactive tools, and hypothetical examples contain information to help you conduct research but are not intended to serve as investment advice, and we cannot guarantee that this information is applicable or accurate to your personal circumstances. Any estimates based on past performance do not a guarantee future performance, and prior to making any investment you should discuss your specific investment needs or seek advice from a qualified professional.
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.
All reviews are prepared by our staff. Opinions expressed are solely those of the reviewer and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including any rates, terms and fees associated with financial products, presented in the review is accurate as of the date of publication.
While we adhere to strict , this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here’s an explanation for .
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts, who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy.
Our investing reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — how to get started, the best brokers, types of investment accounts, how to choose investments and more — so you can feel confident when investing your money.
The investment information provided in this table is for informational and general educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment or financial advice. Bankrate does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it provide individualized recommendations or personalized investment advice. Investment decisions should be based on an evaluation of your own personal financial situation, needs, risk tolerance and investment objectives. Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions.
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers.
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information.
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers.
We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.
Coverage.com, LLC is a licensed insurance producer (NPN: 19966249). Coverage.com services are only available in states where it is licensed. Coverage.com may not offer insurance coverage in all states or scenarios. All insurance products are governed by the terms in the applicable insurance policy, and all related decisions (such as approval for coverage, premiums, commissions and fees) and policy obligations are the sole responsibility of the underwriting insurer. The information on this site does not modify any insurance policy terms in any way.
Real estate has long been a key asset for both families and investors. In the physical world, real estate provides us with shelter as well as places to do business and be entertained.
As our lives become more and more intertwined with the digital world, some investors have started to focus on real estate in virtual spaces such as the metaverse. Real estate sales in the metaverse have exploded in recent years and topped $500 million in 2021, according to metaverse data provider MetaMetric Solutions.
To be sure, the digital real estate market is tiny compared to the physical world. Zillow estimated the total value of the U.S. housing market to be more than $43 trillion in 2021 and there were nearly $270 billion in new home sales in June 2022 alone, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
But still, real estate in the metaverse has attracted some investors’ interest. Here’s what you should know about this nascent space.
• Real estate sales on major metaverse platforms hit $501 million in 2021, according to MetaMetric Solutions.
• In January 2022, sales on those platforms were more than $85 million and MetaMetric projects sales could reach $1 billion in 2022.
• In November 2021, metaverse real estate developer Republic Realm said it paid $4.3 million for land in virtual world Sandbox.
• Also in 2021, an investor purchased a virtual plot next to rapper Snoop Dogg’s digital mansion in Sandbox for $450,000.
• Social media giant Facebook announced in October 2021 it would change its name to Meta, signaling its increasing focus on the metaverse and causing virtual real estate sales to spike.
• Virtual real estate sales on major platforms failed to reach $1 million in the first week of August 2022, after topping $60 million per week in mid-November 2021, according to WeMeta.
• The weekly average sale price for virtual land on Decentraland peaked at $37,239 in late November 2021, but fell to about $10,600 in August 2022.
• Sandbox’s weekly average sale price peaked at more than $35,000 in January 2022, but was just $3,990 in early August 2022.
Individual investors and some companies have been attracted to virtual real estate investments because of the potential it holds over the long term. The metaverse is still in its early stages, and these investors hope that as it grows, their real estate purchases will prove to be lucrative.
Some investors believe that digital real estate will prove to be valuable in the same ways that physical properties are. They may provide rental income or could end up being scarce resources with a value that increases over time.
But exactly how the metaverse will evolve is still highly uncertain, and investing in virtual real estate should be considered speculative and risky. If you can’t afford to lose your entire investment, virtual real estate is likely not the best option for you. The best long-term investments tend to have more stable businesses and lower risk, relative to virtual real estate.
These are four of the top platforms for digital real estate sales:
Sandbox is an Ethereum-based metaverse, or virtual world, where users can design, share and sell assets digitally. The platform aims to disrupt the traditional gaming market by giving users ownership of what they create in the virtual world.
In November 2021, metaverse real estate developer Republic Realm said it paid $4.3 million for land in Sandbox. That same year, an investor purchased a virtual plot next to Snoop Dogg’s digital mansion in Sandbox for $450,000.
Decentraland is a virtual reality platform that allows users to purchase plots of land as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) through the MANA cryptocurrency, which uses the Ethereum blockchain.
Tokens.com, a Canadian investment firm, said it paid about $2.5 million for virtual land in Decentraland’s Fashion District in November 2021.
Voxels is another metaverse built on the Ethereum blockchain where users can purchase land to build on and navigate through the virtual world’s roads and buildings. The average weekly sale price for land in Voxels reached more than $14,000 in early 2022, but has since fallen to less than $700 in August 2022, according to WeMeta.
Somnium Space is a virtual reality world built on the Ethereum blockchain and allows its users to purchase digital land, build homes and even eat at restaurants. You can travel through the virtual world and visit places that were built by other Somnium Space users. The world can be accessed on mobile devices as well as through desktop PCs or a virtual reality headset.
Buying and selling virtual real estate is fairly straightforward once you’ve decided you’d like to make a purchase. You can research the different platforms from your computer and see which areas you’re interested in. You might be able to find sales history and other useful metrics on sites such as NonFungible.com or WeMeta.
Once you’re ready to make a purchase, you’ll need to set up a digital wallet to hold your assets such as a cryptocurrency or NFT. Be sure that your wallet is compatible with the metaverse platform where you’re making your purchase.
You’ll also need to hold enough cryptocurrency to make your purchase and may need to hold a specific coin depending on the platform, such as MANA for purchases on Decentraland. After those steps are completed, you’re ready to make your purchase and will receive an NFT representing your property once the sale goes through.
Virtual real estate is still a relatively new phenomenon, but it has experienced some periods of rapid growth in its early existence.
In the fall of 2021, Facebook announced it would change its corporate name to Meta, signaling its increasing focus on the metaverse. The move lent some credibility to the idea of the metaverse, helping spark a boom in virtual real estate. It didn’t hurt that many cryptocurrencies also reached all-time highs in November 2021.
But sales since then have fallen sharply. Virtual real estate sales on major platforms failed to reach $1 million in the first week of August 2022, after topping $60 million per week in mid-November 2021, according to WeMeta.
Average selling prices have also meaningfully declined. The weekly average sale price for virtual land on Decentraland peaked at $37,239 in early November 2021, but fell to about $10,600 in August 2022. Sandbox’s weekly average sale price peaked at more than $35,000 in January 2022, but was just $3,990 in early August.
Whether or not investing in digital real estate is profitable remains to be seen. At this point, buying virtual land is an extremely speculative and risky investment. Your profitability will likely depend on the sentiment of other investors towards the metaverse and owning virtual land.
Investors who made purchases following the excitement of Facebook’s announcement now likely regret their decisions, as prices have tumbled more than 80 percent in some instances.
It is possible, however, that virtual real estate is a more viable investment option in the future. If the metaverse continues to develop and people spend more and more of their time and money in virtual worlds, owning digital land could prove to be a lucrative asset. But that day is not here yet.
Companies that are involved in the sale of products in the metaverse, or that may receive a cut of what others spend in the metaverse could be profitable investments, however. Finding a way to invest in metaverse activity may be more lucrative than an investment in the metaverse itself.
Investing in virtual real estate is in its early stages and may hold the potential for gains down the road. But the success of the metaverse is hardly a given and investments in digital assets should be viewed with skepticism. If you’re considering investing in digital land, you should be prepared to lose your entire investment.
New investors might consider investing in more traditional assets such as stocks or bonds. Index funds can be great choices for many investors, thanks to their low costs and diversification benefits. You can also invest in a tailored portfolio based on your answers to a handful of questions through a robo-advisor.
Editorial Disclaimer: All investors are advised to conduct their own independent research into investment strategies before making an investment decision. In addition, investors are advised that past investment product performance is no guarantee of future price appreciation.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. Bankrate is compensated in exchange for featured placement of sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. This compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear. Bankrate.com does not include all companies or all available products.
Bankrate, LLC NMLS ID# 1427381 | NMLS Consumer Access
BR Tech Services, Inc. NMLS ID #1743443 | NMLS Consumer Access
© 2022 Bankrate, LLC. A Red Ventures company. All Rights Reserved.
About Author
