Venturing into the digital frontier, the metaverse challenges our traditional understanding of real estate, beckoning a deep dive into its virtual realms and the complexities they harbour. This research seeks to provide an integrative framework for comprehending the intricacies of virtual real estate within the metaverse, emphasising its valuation, governance and sustainability. Utilising an exploratory design, the study amalgamates insights from existing metaverse literature and stakeholder perspectives to fashion a robust framework, which is further augmented by derived theoretical propositions. The findings shed light on the multifarious challenges inherent to the metaverse’s virtual real estate. There is a spotlight on the substantial energy demands of the metaverse and the consequent ecological imperative for sustainable digital practices. It underscores the need for malleable governance mechanisms in a decentralised metaverse and champions the harmonisation of age-old ownership philosophies with avant-garde technological solutions such as blockchain. The research also postulates a collaborative ethos for virtual space creation and propounds innovative financial paradigms tailored to the unique economic rhythm of the metaverse. Future research vectors could span the cultural and psychological facets of virtual domains and the ripple effects on conventional real estate frameworks.
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