Global technocrats are brainstorming to come up with unconventional ideas to design the Metaverse concept which was coined by Neal Stephenson in 1992. Neil used the term Metaverse in a science-fiction novel however it took almost three decades to turn this fiction into reality. A vast amount of credit for this goes to the tech giants like Facebook and Microsoft for making the Metaverse a household name. The covid-19 pandemic has also triggered the growth of Metaverse as people avoided in-person interactions and the corporate sector and corporates embraced the remote working culture.
Metaverse is all set to change the way residents interact and work in Dubai. There has been an upsurge in the number of residents who expect their communities to be metaverse-enabled. Responding to the resident’s demand, a vast number of real estate developers are significantly investing in the space. Damac Group is in the process of building digital cities and has joined hands with the data centre firm Edgenex, Swiss luxury jeweller – de Grisogono, and fashion house Roberto Cavalli to launch distinctive virtual homes and digital property as well as digital wearables, and jewellery. Without a shadow of a doubt, Dubai is indeed heading towards the virtual future with Metaverse.
Why is Metaverse Important for the Real estate Sector?
According to the article titled – ‘What Is a Metaverse? And Should You Be Buying In?’ by Gartner, the Metaverse refers to a collective virtual space which is created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical and digital reality. Metaverse represents a combinatorial innovation, as it requires multiple technologies and trends to function. Contributing tech capabilities include augmented reality (AR), flexible work styles, head-mounted displays (HMDs), an AR cloud, the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and spatial technologies.
Metaverse is the next big thing in the real estate sector as it allows users to use avatars to represent themselves, communicate with each other and virtually build out the community. In the metaverse, digital currency is used to view and buy property using digital currency.
The Role of Metaverse in Enhancing the Resident Experience
Dubai’s real estate sector is setting up new benchmarks in leveraging metaverse for the benefit of the residents. Metaverse has enabled residents in 3-D virtual tours to view the property they are planning to invest in from their homes. Real estate developers are tieing up with the leading property technology or proptech firms to develop hi-tech 3D visualization platforms to enhance residents’ experience and integrate their upcoming launches into this ecosystem. This will allow customers to buy, rent, and sell properties digitally. 3D visualization boosts the buyers’ experience by facilitating them in viewing a vast number of properties from the comfort of their homes and configuring the interior decoration to their liking. Later on, they can also make all the payments related to property purchase payments, utility bills, service charges, etc. digitally through Metaverse. This way, Metaverse is emerging as a one-stop solution to cater to all the requirements of the residents and is elevating overall resident satisfaction across all residential communities in the UAE. In the coming months, Metaverse will also positively impact the commercial real estate sector and will allow tenants in making payments for their rents and utility bills digitally.
‘Dubai Metaverse Strategy’ – a Big Push for the Real estate Sector
The UAE is blessed with visionary and committed leadership which always embraces advanced technologies to make the region frontrunner in the race of innovation & development and ‘Dubai’s Metaverse Strategy’ is just one of the best examples.
Dubai Metaverse Strategy aims to transform Dubai into one of the world’s top 10 metaverse economies as well as a global hub for the metaverse community. The strategy aims to build on Dubai’s achievement of attracting more than 1,000 companies in the fields of blockchain and metaverse and foster innovation, enhance the metaverse’s economic contributions through R & D collaborations, and promote advanced ecosystems utilizing accelerators and incubators which facilitate and attract corporates and projects. Dubai Metaverse Strategy also aims to develop global standards in building safe and secure platforms for users and develop metaverse infrastructure and regulations to accelerate the adoption of these technologies.
Dubai Metaverse Strategy will boost the growth of Metaverse adoption in real estate and will encourage more real estate developers to invest in it. This initiative will also enhance the quality of the projects as the value will be largely dependent on the uniqueness of the project. Dubai Metaverse Strategy encourages the development of a diverse range of advanced innovative Metaverse platforms which will lead to the establishment of a variety of experience centres on virtual lands. These centres will facilitate developers in showcasing their existing and upcoming projects and products and creating promotional activities. Through metaverse, real estate developers will be able to create more awareness among the buyers about how they can leverage metaverse to enhance their experience such as: by scheduling virtual tours, online bookings, land registries, and in getting faster, improved, and 24×7 services using Chatbots. Dubai Metaverse Strategy is also a big push toward enhancing transparency in the real estate sector and ensuring the utmost security for the investment of property buyers.