Metaverse Real Estate Bubble Pops, Prices Crash 85% Amid Waning Interest

Not even the metaverse is exempt from housing bubbles as virtual property sales have plunged 85 percent in 2022, according to recent analytics from digital land gateway platform WeMeta.

In just six months, the metaverse real estate industry has seen a massive decline in volume. The bubble reflects waning interest and a wider retreat in cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), combined with harsh macroeconomic conditions:

The WeMeta analytics were based on the six largest Ethereum metaverse projects, including Decentraland and The Sandbox. Overall, land sales volume across these platforms has dropped considerably, from a peak of US$1 billion in November 2021 to barely US$150 million in August 2022:

Metaverse ETFs (exchange-traded funds) have also lost value, with the Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF (METV) plunging along with blockchain-based metaverse projects. The METV offers investors exposure to companies exploring the metaverse, such as Facebook’s parent company, META. Accordingly, the ETF has tanked by nearly 50 percent from its all-time high of US$17.11 in November 2021.

Buying Digital Land is ‘the Dumbest Sh*t Ever’, Says Cuban

Billionaire crypto advocate Mark Cuban has some harsh words for everyone who jumped in on digital real estate. “It’s the dumbest shit ever,” he said in an interview this week with YouTube channel Altcoin Daily.

The metaverse and NFTs have been waning in demand for months, and only a handful of projects have seen millionaire investments from fundraising rounds. Such was the case with Ethereum-based NFT game Illuvium, which raised more than US$72 million following the sale of nearly 20,000 digital land plots.

At the height of the NFT craze last year, a single Axie Infinity land plot sold for a record US$2.5 million. Considering the market bubble, best not ask about the current price of other lands in the metaverse.