Metaverse lands were not restored. The numbers show how much it has fallen
The largest Metaverse land deals of the 2021 and 2022 boom now map to four- to five-digit values when priced based on current collection floors, rather than the six- and seven-figure valuations that buyers once paid.
Decline extends to all land transactions in the Metaverse. According to CoinGecko’s research, average land prices in the Metaverse have already fallen 72% from their highs by June 2024, with Sandbox down 95%, Decentraland 89%, and Otherworld 85% from peak cycle average floor levels.
Famous blocks, once stand-ins for scarcity and status, now look like the product of a pricing system that envisions virtual neighborhoods becoming high-traffic digital cities.
broader $NFT The market also failed to regain its previous price structure. daprader said $NFT In 2021, trade volume reached $25.8 billion, and a January 2022 report said sales reached an all-time high of $16 billion in the same month alone, before wash trade distortions were removed. Subsequent data shows that the market continued to move, albeit cheaper.
DappRadar’s Q2 2025 report states: $NFT Although sales increased 78% to $14.9 million, trading volume decreased 45% sequentially to $867 million.
In the third quarter of 2025, the market had a transaction volume of $1.6 billion with 18.1 million sales, according to the tracker. Although the premiums attached to many collections collapsed, trading activity continued.
The unwinding of land in the metaverse is best understood as re-pricing, as buyers treated digital land, complete with branding, traffic, and resale scarcity, as if it were a durable asset. The market currently prices many of them as illiquid options.
Flashy land deals now seem like relics
The clearest case study is the trade that once played a role in the entire boom. In December 2021, a 3×3 Snoopverse property adjacent to Snoop Dogg’s property in Sandbox sold for approximately $450,000, or approximately 71,000 Sands. This nine-lot property is currently listed for approximately $1,025 on a floor-equivalent basis. This is approximately a 99.8% drawdown from the reported sales price.
The Decentraland Fashion District agreement shows the same thing. Metaverse Group purchased the 116-lot property in November 2021 for approximately $2.4 million. The property is currently worth no more than $8,929 on a floor equivalent basis, representing a decrease of approximately 99.6% from its original purchase price.
In June 2021, Republic Realm purchased 259 lots for approximately $913,228. At the same current floor equivalent value, the property’s showing price would be approximately $19,935, a decrease of approximately 97.8%.
Sandbox “city” contracts are also a clear indicator in terms of their size. Republic Realm’s 24×24 sandbox estate, or 576 lots, was purchased in late 2021 for $4.3 million. At the current lowest price, the property’s screen value would be approximately $65,583, down approximately 98.5%.
Otherside’s trophy sales show a similar baseline collapse. According to DappRadar report for May 2022, Otherdeed #24 sold for 333 $ETHor nearly $1 million, but the current floor is around $167.
Still, compared to the current Otherdeed floor, the baseline for the category has fallen significantly, meaning these headline purchases now represent a floor-equivalent price decline of close to 100%.
Floor equivalent prices are the fairest way to make these comparisons. It shows what happened to the market baseline. Markets that once paid a premium for celebrity neighborhoods, branded neighborhoods, and virtual locations now assign thin residual values to the entire category.
NFTs continued to trade, but the pricing model collapsed
Land collapse exists within a wider range $NFT Reset. The first quarter of 2022 was the strongest $NFT Historical trading volume reached $12.46 billion. By June 2022, monthly transaction value had fallen below $1 billion for the first time in a year. However, the market did not completely disappear due to the bankruptcy.
DappRadar’s 2024 Overview Report states: $NFT Volumes in 2024 were down 19% year-on-year and sales were down 18%, making 2024 one of the weakest years since 2020. Then, in 2025, the market split, with dollar trading volumes decreasing, unit trading increasing, and trading of cheaper assets increasing.
That divide is reflected in the quarterly numbers. According to DappRadar, revenue decreased to $867 million in Q2 2025, while revenue increased to $14.9 million. According to DappRadar’s tracker, the market had transaction volume of $1.6 billion and sales of 18.1 million in Q3 2025.
Another signal was added in October 2025. According to DappRadar, the market’s monthly sales reached $546 million and sales reached $10.1 million, making it the highest monthly sales of the year. Traders were still buying NFTs. They were spending much less per item.
A good agent shows how tough re-pricing was off-shore. CoinGecko’s BAYC page shows Bored Ape Yacht Club at approximately 5.22. $ETHor about $11,410, compared to an all-time low of $153.7 $ETHor approximately $420,430. This means that BAYC will decline by approximately 96.6% in 2019. $ETH 97.3% on a dollar basis. Even one of the most famous collections in the category couldn’t bring back the old clear levels.
The funding layer also collapsed. DappRadar $NFT Loans fell 97% from a peak of about $1 billion in January 2024 to just over $50 million in May 2025, according to lending data. Borrowers are down 90%, lenders are down 78%, and the average loan size has shrunk from a peak of $22,000 in 2022 to about $4,000.
$NFT During the boom, loans supported the prices of luxury goods. Premium valuations lost another key support when traders were no longer able to borrow expensive JPEGs and land titles at scale.
wide range $NFT The market continued to function, but prices fell sharply. Land was one of the purest narrative transactions of the boom. It relied on the belief that digital location would become a durable asset class in its own right.
other parts $NFT The market has found a cheaper part of the demand. Land was rarely the case.
Market prospects become narrower, cheaper and less forgiving
There are signs of dynamism in the current market. CoinGecko collection pages for Sandbox, Decentraland, Otherside, and Voxels show gains of 153.9%, 95.5%, 12.8%, and 41.8% in 60 days, respectively.
But these rebounds started from deeply depressed levels, and the overall picture remains the same. These case studies are still nearly 98% to 100% below boom-time valuations on a floor-equivalent basis. That’s what happens when markets lose both influence and conviction.
This category also participates in other categories $NFT It has grown more than the market that existed in the second half of 2021. In 2025, RWA NFTs will grow by 29% in volume to become the second largest market. $NFT Categories by quantity during the quarter. Gaming-related assets have also emerged.
Still, this change does not prove that the lands of the Metaverse can recover quickly. When old assumptions no longer worked, traders moved to RWA. They have moved into categories that are considered more tradeable, more related to utilities, or simply cheaper to own.
Corporate signals also moved in the same direction. Meta changed its name in 2021 to emphasize the Metaverse, but the company’s announcement now sounds like a document from another market cycle.
According to Meta’s 2025 financial report, Reality Labs lost billions of dollars over several years, losing $19.2 billion in 2025. Virtual worlds are still active, but under very different cost and growth calculations than those that sparked the land boom.
The market currently trades digital assets with much lower ticket sizes, weaker funding, and a preference for narrower use cases. Metaverse land could still rise in the short term, especially if crypto sentiment turns risk-on.
The past 60 days have shown us that. The market remains well below the assumptions built into 2021 and 2022 trophy sales.
For land values to behave like real estate again, platforms will need more than a token rebound. Users who show up regularly, brands who stick around, and why virtual locations create lasting economic value rather than narrative premiums are the only path to recovery.