How expensive is a virtual home?

9 August 2021 • Rebecca • Real estate: past, present and future

As in any other field, digitalization has steadily taken its place in the real estate industry, whether we are talking of "smart homes", viewing homes from a distance, using virtual reality, or houses built using 3D printers.

However, a Canadian-born artist went even further and designed a virtual home that she managed to sell for a fabulous sum of over half a million dollars.

Krista Kim, the founder of a trend that combines art and technology, sold an innovation in the real estate industry last spring: the first NFT (non-fungible token) virtual house, located in the fictional Metaverse universe, called Mars House.

NFTs are unique data units that are stored in a digital register called a blockchain. These tokens can represent various objects, from digital works of art to virtual houses, such as Mars Home. The home is therefore a 3D digital file and can only be visited with the help of virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR).

The creator behind Mars House chose to design the concept during the first wave of the pandemic because she believes that homes can become therapeutic by integrating art and technology.

Mars House, which she says looks like the home of her dreams, also features such facilities, offering, with the help of lights and music created by American guitarist Jeff Schroeder, a member of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, a Zen, healing atmosphere. Thus, its role is to help you escape from the harsh reality we are all going through today. Shades of orange were used to design the virtual house, while the unit is "built" with the help of glass walls and equipped with a terrace and pool, among others.

Those curious had the opportunity to virtually visit the house in 45-minute tours, and even rent it for private events such as weddings or family reunions. In addition, artist Jeff Schroeder held a series of virtual concerts in July, with a USD 200 ticket.

Following the auction organized on the SuperRare platform, Mars House was purchased in the cryptocurrency Ether, at the price of 288 Ether, the equivalent of about USD 512,000, although it was initially listed at only 30 Ether (about USD 60,000). However, the rules for resale are very strict and the reproduction of the house in the virtual universe or reality is forbidden.

Another incredible aspect of this home is that it is priced at almost USD 120,000 higher than an ordinary house in the United States.

On a smaller scale, different artists have started similar projects. Andrés Reisinger, for example, received no less than USD 450,000 from the sale of several pieces of virtual furniture. The auctions were done in just 10 minutes, and the most expensive item cost almost USD 70,000. In addition, some of the pieces will be transformed into real furniture and sent to the owners.

Likewise, the SuperWorld platform offers over 64 billion plots of virtual land, with those interested having the opportunity to buy a lot anywhere in the world, including the land on which the most famous sights are built, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, or the Great Chinese wall. And the prices are "decent": 0.1 Ether (about USD 250) per plot. The virtual terrains sold by SuperWorld can be visited with the help of augmented reality and can be customized using 3D interactive objects.

Data for this article was obtained from cnn.com, dezeen.com, superworldapp.com, standard.co.uk, housebeautiful.com, and Wikipedia.org.