Eat your heart out Selling Sunset, it’s London that’s for sale in new Netflix show
Daniel Daggers is about to be the new face of real estate on Netflix. He spoke to Candice Krieger
Selling Sunset fans are soon to be treated to a fix of real estate reality from this side of the Atlantic with the launch of a new Netflix show.
Buying London, the UK’s answer to the hit US show Selling Sunset, will feature property entrepreneur Daniel Daggers and a team of agents at his DDRE Global company as they take on the glitz and the glam of London’s luxury property market.
Netflix says we can expect to watch Daggers, nicknamed ‘Mr Super Prime’ for his proficiency in selling properties over £10 million, and his team “navigate the intricacies of their personal lives while striving to make their mark in the glamorous world of super prime real estate.” The show, which airs 22 May also stars former Made in Chelsea star Rosi Walden, an advisor at DDRE and fellow agent and former television sports presenter Olivia Wayne.
Daggers, 44, has worked in real estate for nearly 30 years. He has sold more than $5bn (around £4bn) worth of property, and advised royal families, successful entrepreneurs and high-profile individuals from the world of sport and entertainment (although he can’t disclose names). In 2019, Daggers sold one of London’s most expensive homes for a reported £95m.
The following year, he founded DDRE Global – a high-end agency with online content creation at its core. While 85 per cent of transactions are UK-based, the company also has a number of luxury international properties on its books.
Over the past four years, DDRE Global has sold more than £600m worth of property. Sixty per cent of DDRE transactions are done ‘off-market’ with an average listing of £23m. The DDRE model is akin to the US, where
agents are independent but can tap into each other’s networks.
The DDRE model is akin to the US, where agents are independent but can tap into each other’s networks.
So what do we know about ‘Mr Super Prime?’
A former JFS boy, Daggers, who now lives in West London, comes from humble beginnings. Until the age of 11, he grew up in local authority housing where he lived with his Israeli mum and British dad. He tells Jewish News: “I think this instigated a lot of curiosity in me. I always wanted to learn from people around me.
“I would go to a local boys’ club and remember being bullied for being Jewish. But I also made great friends and learnt a lot.”
Daggers left school aged 17 to pursue a career as professional footballer but an injury led him to change direction and enter the real estate world. In 1997, he started out with Vickers and Company, where he spent a decade before joining Knight Frank in 2007. Daggers was quickly promoted from associate to Partner and Head of the Private Office and US Ambassador.
In 2019 he made the headlines when he left Knight Frank after allegedly posting photos of a client’s multi-million-pound property without their permission. Asked about it, Daggers says: “Let’s just say there are two sides to every story and sometimes life isn’t fair.”
But it propelled Daggers to launch DDRE. Today, there is a team of over 30 that operate from the Marylebone offices, which has its own in-house content creation studio.
The company prides itself on its digital footprint. Daggers has long been harnessing the power of social media to revolutionise how properties are marketed and sold. “Over the next few years, the use of social media within the industry will become paramount, as will the value of personal relationships between agents and their clients.
“The internet has made real estate a global business. Today, it’s content that captures people’s attention. If it’s good enough they will follow up.
He says that while “all service industry professionals are somewhat under threat from AI, we carry the trust of our clients, therefore agents are now marketing tools and a mouthpiece to the market, and if they are unable to do that, then the value of the role starts to depreciate. I feel very strongly about that.”
A Spear’s UK property advisor of the year, Daggers is one of the industry’s original ‘propfluencer’s’ using his online presence to showcase properties and influence and transform the property market.
While not a new phenomenon, Daggers says that only now are traditional media sources paying attention to the value of digital marketing. “As someone who is pretty curious when I saw what people were doing over social, I saw it as the next phase of marketing.
“Today, it’s content that captures people’s attention. Eight years ago, I asked if my Instagram handle could be inserted in an article about me and they scoffed at me.
Fast forward and a new wave of agents has since emerged – sales made via social media are soaring.
“The internet has made real estate a global business.”
Daggers does a lot of work in the Middle East, clocking up $150m (£118m) worth of deals in the region, including in Tel Aviv and Dubai. A proud Jew, he says he hasn’t experienced any antisemitism in business.
“I have always been greeted wonderfully there [Dubai] and have Sheikhs that are great friends, who have supported me and am very thankful for their friendship.”
He also has close ties with Israel and believes Israeli real estate will “go up” post-war as Jewish people, who feel insecure about where they live, will relocate there.
Daggers is passionate about mentorship and the importance of experience over academic qualifications. He runs DDRE Academy, set up to teach budding agents “skills that aren’t taught at university or in any corporate/independent business.”
He recalls: “I was never that engaged in school. My dad was a kitchen designer and I would hear him on the phone talking about business but I never connected business with doing well at school. It wasn’t until I did a GNVQ in business that a lightbulb went off in my brain – I now knew what I needed to do to live my life.
“Life skills need to be taught in school and you need to have really good mentors.”
Daggers supports several members of the BAME community, which he says remain an underrepresented demographic within the upper echelons of property in central London, along with the Jewish community, and women – something he has been championing to change via his social media.
Outside of work, Daggers enjoys playing football and watching Arsenal play. He participates in several charitable events and donates a percentage of DDRE profits to Rays of Sunshine, which grants wishes to young people with serious or life-threatening illnesses, and children and families charity Norwood.
With the new Netflix show starting, it’s clear that Daggers has huge further ambition in the world of property. And while he has worked with some of the world’s top agents including Josh Altman and Ryan Serhant, Daggers hasn’t yet met Jason Oppenheim, the star of the hit Netflix shows, Selling Sunset and Selling the OC, which features his LA-based Oppenheim Group and agents as they sell luxury homes.
Given what each has achieved, imagine what the property world could look forward to if these two super prime giants did ever meet.
Buying London launches on Netflix 22 May
@teamddre / @daniel_daggers
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