A House in Germany Is Being Sold as an NFT

A house in Kransberg, Germany, is being sold as a non-fungible token (NFT).

“This is probably another first in the crypto world - I'm selling my real-world house as an NFT,” the seller wrote on NFT marketplace OpenSea.

The NFT is being sold in an auction on OpenSea, with a minimum reserve price of 34 ETH ($74,000). The auction finishes on April 25.

NFTs are cryptographically unique crypto tokens that are used to create scarcity for digital content such as images and video. In recent months, they’ve exploded in popularity, with brands and celebrities launching their own NFTs. Now, people are testing the boundaries with what they can sell in the real world using these digital tokens.

NFT real estate

The house in question is located in a small German village, near a castle and a short drive from Frankfurt. It will need a considerable amount of renovation to make it habitable, with much of the downstairs area exposed brick and concrete floors.

Whoever purchases the NFT will be able to contact the seller and organize the sale of the house through standard legal means. Once the house has been transferred to a holder of the NFT, that will be it, as far as the original owner is concerned—although the new owner could choose to carry out a similar sale.

If somebody purchases the NFT, they will be able to access unlockable content that comes with it. This is how they’ll be able to contact the seller and agree to the transfer of the house. They will need to provide their details within six months for the sale to go through.

This auction comes just weeks after a digital house was sold for $512,000. Called Mars House, the entire layout was sent to the buyer as a digital 3D file, with the NFT working as a kind of authentication that the digital house should be sent to them.

There’s still some question as to what, exactly, you’re buying when you purchase an NFT; something that will need to be addressed as the market expands to include real-world artifacts and properties.