How To Buy Land In The Metaverse? Easy Step-By-Step Guide

Last Updated on January 16, 2023 by Jordan Alexo

In the Metaverse virtual world, land is one of the most valuable assets. People are spending real money to buy virtual land, just like in the physical world.

The most expensive virtual real estate parcel was bought for $4.3 million in the Sandbox metaverse in December 2021. So, there is much money to make in Metaverse land.

Just as in the physical world, location is everything in virtual space. The best locations are prime real estate, which comes at a premium price.

But just because something is expensive doesn’t mean it’s out of reach. There are ways to buy land in the Metaverse, and this guide will show you how.

In particular, you’re about to learn how to buy land through two extremely popular platforms, Decentraland, Sandbox, and Axie Infinity.

What Is Metaverse Land?

To better understand virtual land, let’s look at one of the biggest Metaverse platforms, Decentraland. At the moment, this platform has over 600 million monthly active users.

In Decentraland, virtual real estate is called LAND. Each piece of LAND is an ERC721 non-fungible token (NFT) on the Ethereum blockchain. In other words, each LAND token is unique and can be traded on decentralized exchanges like OpenSea.

LAND in Decentraland can be used for several purposes, such as gaming, socializing, and even business meetings. Users can also build anything they want on their LAND parcel, including houses, castles, or whatever else they can imagine.

You can even join concerts. Imagine going to a virtual concert of your favorite band and actually being able to see them perform on stage rather than just watching a video. This is the power of digital real estate.

The sky is the limit when it comes to what you can do with Metaverse land, which is why it’s become so popular in recent years.

Also, you have other similar platforms, such as Sandbox, Cryptovoxels, Upland, Starlink, and others. Each platform has its unique digital coin, which you can use to purchase land and other items there.

Why Is Digital Real Estate Valuable?

Most people still have a hard time understanding why anyone in their right mind would want to buy digital real estate. However, it’s crazy how much money is being transferred online to buy these assets.

For instance, when you go to the Decentraland marketplace. You can see several virtual land parcels being sold. Some for a few thousand dollars, and others for millions.

3 Most Expensive Virtual Lands Purchases

• Metaverse land was bought for $4.3 million in the Sandbox metaverse around December 2021. The most expensive land purchase in the Metaverse to date.
• A Fashion Street Estate digital real estate sold for $2.4 million in Decentraland.
• Genesis plot, one of the rarest lands, sold for $2.3 million in Axiet Infinity.

Just to name a few examples. The cool thing is that you’re not limited to buying digital real estate. You can also buy virtual businesses, art, cars, clothes, and jewelry.

Get Early, Get Rich!

Although we see people buying digital assets for crazy sums, the Metaverse is still in its infancy! Most people out there don’t have a clue about this new market. 

In the next few years, we’ll see a flood of users joining Decentraland, Sandbox, and other newer platforms. For this reason, you can buy digital assets for a few hundred dollars now that may be sold for millions soon.

Garner predicts that 25% of the population will spend at least an hour per day in the Metaverse by 2026. Many companies will operate their business in the virtual world. For this to happen, they’ll need to own digital real estate to run their businesses and team.

Someday most people can work from the comfort of their homes. All they need is to grab their VR headset; boom, they can attend a corporate meeting virtually or run their little clothing boutique in a busy virtual venue.

This is just the beginning. So, now is the perfect time to find cheap properties and get rich later, selling them for millions of dollars.

Now that you know all this let’s see how you can buy Metaverse land.

What Are The Benefits Of Owing Virtual Real Estate?

Let’s take a look at a few of the advantages of  Metaverse real estate ownership:

1) You Can Develop It

You’re not just buying virtual land for fun. You can use it to develop your own virtual business. For instance, you can open a virtual clothing store or art gallery. The possibilities are endless.

Contrary to the real world, you don’t have physical restrictions. You could buy an empty plot and, after an hour, have a skyscraper built there.

2) Make A Profit By Selling It

Like in the real world, you can also profit by selling your Metaverse real estate for more than what you paid. So, if you bought a virtual land parcel for $100 and sold it for $200, you just made a 100% return on investment. Not bad, huh?

3) Rent It Out

If you don’t want to sell your virtual land, you can rent it to other businesses. They’ll use it to run their virtual operations, and you’ll get a cut of the profits. It’s a great way to passive income.

What Are The Risks Of Owning Virtual Real Estate?

You also have to be aware of the risks involved in virtual land ownership, such as:

1) The Technology Might Not Catch On

The Metaverse is still in its early stages. So, there’s always the risk that it might not take off as expected. If that happens, the land you bought will be worthless.

2) Metaverse land could Become Worthless Overnight

Another risk is that the virtual land could suddenly become worthless overnight. For example, your land would be worthless if the game company went out of business or decided to shut down the game platform.

3) You Could Be Scammed

When buying Metaverse real estate, you need to be careful of scammers. They could sell you virtual land that doesn’t exist or sell you someone else’s land without their permission.

4 Factors That Make Metaverse Land Valuable

Like in the real world, not all Metaverse land is worth the same. To become a good investor, you need to understand what makes some digital real estate more valuable than others.

1) Game Popularity

The more popular the virtual world, the more in-demand the land will be, and the higher the price. For instance, Decentraland and Sandbox are both super popular nowadays. That’s why people spend millions of dollars buying land there.

2) Hot Spots

Just like in the real world, land near virtual landmarks or busy virtual streets is more expensive than others. That’s because it gets more foot traffic, which means more business potential customers.

You want to ensure your land plot is near crowded areas and places that provide popular experiences. So, spend some time analyzing the hottest spots in the Metaverse platform before you buy land.

3) Size

The bigger the Metaverse real estate, the pricier it is. That’s why you see some virtual land parcels being sold for millions of dollars. They’re usually massive in size.

Of course, you don’t need to buy a huge land parcel to make money from it. You can also subdivide it into smaller chunks and sell them for a higher price per square meter.

4) Scarcity

The more people who want to buy land on a game platform, the more scarce and valuable the land becomes.

So, it’s a good idea to enter these platforms earlier and invest in a few inexpensive land plots. It may be risky because you don’t know about the future of this technology and platforms. However, seeing the positive trend in the Metaverse seems like a good bet.

For example, if you had bought 10 land parcels in Decentraland back in 2017 when the game launched, it would be worth $5.6 million today.

How To Buy Virtual Land?

Now that you know the benefits and risks of virtual land ownership and the factors that make it valuable, you might be wondering how to buy virtual land.

I’m going to talk about the three most popular ones. Of course, you could join another one. I recommend analyzing each platform individually and deciding based on your needs.

To buy virtual, you’ll need to buy the cryptocurrency necessary for each platform. Often you can purchase digital coins through exchanges, such as Binance, Crypto.com, or Coinbase. Once you have the required digital currency, you must store it in your virtual wallet.

My preferred digital wallet is Metamask, but you can also try Coinbase Wallet or Wallet Connect.

1) How To Buy Land in Decentraland?

Decentraland is the oldest Metaverse platform. It’s a virtual world where users can create, experience, and monetize content and applications.

The land in Decentraland is called “parcels.” The users permanently own these parcels and store them on the Ethereum blockchain. That makes them resistant to fraud or censorship.

MANA is the virtual currency of Decentraland. It’s used to buy land and pay for in-world transactions.

STEP 1) To buy land on Decentraland, you’ll need to purchase some MANA or Ethereum first. You can do this through several cryptocurrency exchanges. Once you have some MANA or Ethereum, you can use it to buy virtual land on the Decentraland marketplace.

STEP 2) The next step is to find the virtual land you want to buy on the Decentraland marketplace. You can browse the available parcel listings and filter them by price, location, or size. The squares in light blue are the ones for sale.

STEP 3) Once you’ve found a land parcel you’re interested in, click on it to view more information. This will show you the listing price, the coordinates of the parcel, and a 3D virtual preview.

If you’re happy with the land parcel, click the “BUY” button. This will take you to a page where you can review your purchase and enter your Ethereum wallet address.

Once you’re ready, confirm your purchase. The land parcel is now yours, and you can do whatever you want with it!

One of the problems with Decentraland is that their virtual land isn’t accessible to everyone. At the moment, the cheapest land may cost more than $20.000. Since then, the price may have decreased, so I recommend you check it.

2) How To Buy Land in Sandbox?

Sandbox is a virtual world where players can create, own, and monetize gaming experiences. It uses blockchain technology and virtual tokens to give users true ownership of their virtual assets.

Sandbox has a similar boxy and cartoonish style as Minecraft. Everything inside this game, from character clothing, equipment, lands, and skins, is an NFT.

STEP 1) To buy land on Sandbox, you’ll need to purchase some Ethereum. Or you can use Ethereum to buy some SAND tokens. Also, you’ll need to have this digital currency saved in your virtual wallet.

You can do this through several cryptocurrency exchanges. Once you have some SAND, you can use it to buy land on the Sandbox marketplace.

STEP 2) The next step is to find the virtual land you want to buy on the Sandbox marketplace. You can browse the available land listings and filter them by price, location, or size.

Another way is to filter land on sale on OpenSea. Using this option, you can easily see the land available there. If you don’t know, OpenSea is a marketplace for virtual assets.

STEP 3) Once you’ve found a virtual land parcel you’re interested in, click on it to view more information. This will take you to OpenSea, where you can read the land description, make an offer, or buy now.

Land Vs. States

You have two different types of digital real estate. The land is your standard 1×1 square, and one plot of land is equal to 96×96 meter square of land in Sandbox. An estate is a larger plot of land that may have different sizes.

You have the 3×3, 6×6, 12×12, and 24×24 plots of land. Of course, bigger plots of land cost more money.

3) How To Buy Land in Axie Infinity?

Axie Infinity is a virtual world where users can collect, breed, and battle creatures called “Axies.” These Axies are digital assets that are stored on the Ethereum blockchain. Axie Infinity is one of the most popular earning-to-play games.

Lunacia is the virtual world inside Axie Infinity, divided into tokenized plots where players can have land which serves as homes or operation bases for their Axis.

The land plots in Lunacia are called Terra. These land plots are NFTs that can be sold, rented, or bought. Players can upgrade these plots using resources and ingredients found while playing Axie Infinity.

You also have five land types: Savannah, Forest, Artic, Mystic, and Genesis. Each land type varies in rarity, so some properties are rarer than others. For instance, Savannah and Forest’s land is the most common in Lunacia. In contrast, Genesis is the rarest and most expensive land plot.

STEP 1) Before anything, you should set up a Ronin Wallet. You’ll need this virtual wallet to store digital coins to purchase land in Axie Infinity.

STEP 2) To buy virtual land, you want to go to the Axie Infinity website. Once there, create an account with Axie Infinity. Once done, go to Axie’s marketplace and choose land.

STEP 3) Now, you can see all the land that is at the moment available in Axie Infinity’s Metaverse. You can filter through the land type you’d like to purchase. For example, if you choose Mystic, it will show all the Mystic land for sale.

You can also filter by highest and lowest price and latest.

STEP 4) Click on the land you want to purchase to see more details. Press the “Buy Now” (you must be login) button to buy your first land in Axie Infinity.

Last Thoughts

So, there you have it! Now you know how to buy virtual real estate on three popular Metaverse platforms. 

Each platform may look and work differently, but what makes land valuable is commonly based on the game’s popularity, location, size, and scarcity. So, always consider this before buying land.

I recommend you research each platform individually, side-by-side, with this guide to help you out. Perhaps, spend a few weeks learning about each virtual world before diving deep. After all, virtual land is a big investment.

Of course, the most important part is to have fun! The Metaverse is a virtual world where anything is possible.

Did you find this guide helpful? Do you have land in the Metaverse? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy virtual land hunting!

How To Buy Land In The Metaverse – FAQs

Let’s look at a few frequently asked questions about buying land in the Metaverse.

1) What is the Metaverse?

The Metaverse is a virtual world where users can interact with each other in a variety of ways. It’s also home to digital assets, like virtual land.

2) Can I sell Virtual Real Estate?

Yes, you can sell virtual real estate. In fact, virtual land is one of the most popular assets in the Metaverse. People buy and sell land all the time. You can sell the land on the same platforms where you bought them. Or, you can list it on OpenSea.

3) What is the function of VR and AR in the Metaverse?

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) play a big role in the Metaverse. They are used to create immersive experiences that make the virtual world feel more real.

Imagine, rather than role-playing, your favorite hero in front of a desktop. Now, you can become completely immersed in that virtual world and embody that hero. Wearing a VR headset, it’s like you are inside of that game.

4) What are the main companies involved in the Metaverse?

Some main companies involved in the Metaverse are Microsoft, Oculus, Facebook, and HTC. These are just a few of the big names. But, many other companies are working on virtual reality and augmented reality technology.

5) Is the Metaverse real?

The Metaverse is a virtual world, so it’s not “real” in the traditional sense. But, it’s very real to the people who inhabit it. In the Metaverse, you can create anything you can imagine. So, it’s as real as you make it.