Digital twins of real estate projects in the metaverse to help developers push sales

Virtual tours can build brand awareness and promote properties in the market at a quicker pace

From left, Sarah Forster from 'The National', Samuel Hamilton, creative director at the Decentraland Foundation, Joe Abi Akl, chief corporate development officer of Majid Al Futtaim, Ali Sajwani, general manager of operations at Damac Properties, and Guy Parsonage, metaverse lead at PwC, during a panel discussion at the Dubai Metaverse Assembly on Wednesday. Khushnum Bhandari / The NationalShow less

Real estate developers stand to be among the biggest beneficiaries of the metaverse, with digital twins of their properties seen to help drive marketing and sales, experts said at the Dubai Metaverse Assembly.

By providing virtual tours of projects, developers can build brand awareness, promote the developments in the market at a quicker pace and also scale their reach to investors.

"There is a whole collection of use cases for real estate in the metaverse; it’s a very interesting space," Guy Parsonage, metaverse lead at PwC, told The National.

"It’s an addition to what they’re already doing in the real world, adding new ways to engage their customers in the real world."

The metaverse is the emerging space where people can interact in virtual worlds using three-dimensional representations.

The technology also allows companies to market products through interactive means, specifically by immersing users in a fully digital world with the help of hardware such as augmented reality headsets and the related software.

For real estate developers, taking clients on a tour of a digital twin of their properties will allow potential investors to experience the feel of the project.

Shifting to the metaverse is seen to have a positive business impact, according to 71 per cent of respondents to a recent global survey from consultancy Accenture.

Its market opportunity, meanwhile, is projected to be worth more than $1 trillion in annual revenues, US bank JPMorgan said.

Presentations regarding different facets of Metaverse at the Dubai Metaverse Assembly at Museum of the Future. All photos: Khushnum Bhandari / The National

Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, speaks about The Building Blocks for WEB 3.0 and the Metaverse.

From left, Alex Gubbay, Head of Digital at 'The National', moderator Amin Al Zarouni, of Bedu, Abdelrahman Mohamed, of MetaCon Global, Abdulla Mohamed Al Dhaheri, of Chaintech Lab, and Haya Al Gussain, of Evolve Network Club take part in the UAE Metaverse Contributors' panel discussion.

From left, Jane Witherspoon of Euronews moderates a panel discussion on 'Which sectors is the Metaverse already impacting' with Yusuf Bahadir, of GoArt, Vishal Gondal, founder and CEO of GOQii, David Clark-Joseph, of Pixelynx and Bradford Bird, of The Fabricant.

Tom Urquhart from Arabian Radio Network speaks about gaming with Ahmed Tehemar, of Gamefi.

From left, Mustafa Alrawi of 'The National' speaks to Adel Al Redha, CEO of Emirates about 'Opportunities in Aviation'.

A visitor tests a virtual reality headset at the Dubai Metaverse Assembly at Museum of Future.

From left, moderator Mina Al-Oraibi, Editor-in-Chief at 'The National', HSBC's Catherine Zhou, Alexander Chehade from Binance, Keith Jordan from Mastercard, DIFC Authority's Christian Kunz and Vinit Shah from the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority discuss the role of governments in virtual worlds.

Ziad Traboulsi from Meta addresses the assembly.

Gabriel Abed, ambassador of Barbados to the UAE, speaks about the future of nations in the Metaverse.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, attends the event at Museum of the Future.

From left, Euronews moderator Laura Buckwell, Cathy Li of the World Economic Forum, Digital Dubai's Marwan Al Zarouni, Meta's James Hairston and Balsam Danhach of FTX discuss 'Maximizing the Potential of Ecosystems on the Metaverse'.

Brandy Scott of the Arabian Radio Network, left, and Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World discuss 'How the Metaverse will Enable People and Operations'.

Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Digital Economy, AI and Remote Working System, speaks about 'Unlocking Dubai's Potential'.

Asma Shabab of Accenture leads the 'Building the Responsible Metaverse' discussion with virtual speaker Anne Groeppelin, also from Accenture.

Ms Li, left, and Mr Hairston, right, listen as Mr Al Zarouni makes a point.

Mr Al Olama, who is also Chairman of Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy and Vice Chairman of the Higher Committee for Future Technology and Digital Economy in Dubai.

Moderator Ms Buckwell leads the panel discussion on 'Maximizing the Potential of Ecosystems on the Metaverse'.

From left, The National's Sarah Forster moderates a discussion with Samuel Hamilton of the Decentraland Foundation, Majid Al Futtaim's Joe Abi Akl, Damac Properties' Ali Sajwani and Guy Parsonage from PwC on 'Opportunities in Virtual Real Estate'.

Ihab Foudeh from Microsoft speaks on the topic of 'Unravelling the Metaverse and its Future'.

Khalifa Al Jaziri Al Shehhi gives a presentation on 'Metaverse and the Economy'.

Some of the audience at the Dubai Metaverse Assembly.

From left, Mr Abi Akl, Mr Sajwani and Mr Parsonage continue their discussion.

The audience takes in the discussion.

Front-row seats for the Dubai Metaverse Assembly.

Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq, second from left, joins a discussion on 'Metaverse and the Economy' moderated by Karl Tlais, left, founder and strategic advisor of iAdvisory, Accenture managing director Bashar Kilani, second from right, and BCG Digital Ventures managing director and partner Mark Zaleski.

Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation gives the opening address.

UAE real estate companies are slowly tapping into the metaverse.

Dubai property brokerage Union Square House said in April that it planned to sell the region's first “metaverse mansions”, where buyers can own a non-fungible token with and without the bricks and mortar asset.

Meanwhile, Damac Group also announced plans in April to invest $100 million to build "digital cities" in the metaverse.

However, real estate companies need to learn how to carefully integrate the metaverse into their operations, said Ali Sajwani, general manager of operations at Damac Properties.

The Dubai-based developer has been posting sales of about $100m using video conferencing applications, "convincing clients halfway across the world", he said.

"We can push sales with digital twins [of our properties]. It can also give them an idea of what the future looks like in real estate," he added.

Companies need to "keep evolving to meet the evolving needs of customers, to make the experience much more seamless and effective", said Joe Abi Akl, chief corporate development officer of Dubai conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim.

Government property is another area where the metaverse can help.

Embassies, for instance, can be costly for smaller countries to build overseas, and a virtual equivalent can instead serve the purpose, Mr Abi Akl said.

"It saves money and can provide services such as for visas. So it makes sense," he added.

Mr Parsonage, however, cautioned against blindly investing in the metaverse, urging companies to focus on the potential tangible returns it would bring.

"You need to get in and explore, as you don’t want to be the one that’s taking advantage while others are already starting to seek create revenue and benefits from it," he said.

"Our advice is to invest at a strategic time in looking at the relevant opportunities for your business. Along with looking at the overall strategy, start smaller and develop quickly so you can start to understand it."