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Buying London is a reality show that sees a real estate team selling multimillion-pound mansions as they quarrel and quibble on air – just like they do on Selling Sunset. Photo: Zoe McConnell

Buying London is the UK’s answer to Netflix’s Selling Sunset: real estate reality show airs as luxury market slows

  • Fans of the beautiful houses and drama on Selling Sunset can look forward to Netflix’s new real estate show Buying London, which moves the action to the UK
  • ‘Everyone wants to look at beautiful homes,’ says Daniel Daggers, one of the stars of the show – but the series comes amid a slowdown in the luxury market

Netflix has swapped the Hollywood Hills for the manicured squares of Mayfair in its new real estate show Buying London, the UK’s answer to the popular Selling Sunset reality programme.

The stars of the show are Daniel Daggers and his agents at DDRE Global. Daggers has sold more than US$5.5 billion of real estate to some of the world’s wealthiest people, including a £95 million (US$121 million) mansion to hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin.

Much like Selling Sunset, the show features tours inside multimillion-pound mansions set against the reality television drama between DDRE’s glamorous agents.

On the show, West Londoner Rosi Walden (who had a stint on reality show Made in Chelsea), top agent Lauren Christy and newcomer Reme Nicole all compete for blockbuster listings that bring in big commissions.

There are also appearances from some of Daggers’ leading contacts, like billionaire 1 Mayfair developer John Caudwell.

Property agent Daniel Daggers in a still from reality show Buying London on Netflix. Photo: Netflix

Buying London debuts during a slowdown in London’s super-prime property market. Wealthy home sellers are cutting prices by as much as 30 per cent to secure deals during a slump that has gripped the high-end neighbourhoods depicted on the Netflix show.

But Daggers seems undeterred. In many ways, the 44-year-old real estate entrepreneur is a natural fit for reality television stardom.

On Instagram, he is known to his 66,000 followers as Mr Super Prime – in London, “super prime” refers to properties valued at £10 million and above. Daggers was one of the first British agents to adopt social media as a sales and branding tool, a technique that has been common in the US for years.

“I lived in a local housing authority [unit] until I was 11, and have been an agent since I was 17 and started out with studio flats,” says Daggers from his offices near Regents Park in central London. “And now I sell some of the most expensive real estate on the planet, and do so unbelievably frequently. It’s not a fluke.”

He spent 12 years at leading agency Knight Frank, and reportedly parted ways with the firm after he was alleged to have posted images of a client’s home on Instagram without permission.

A shot of a house from Buying London. Photo: Netflix

Daggers says he cannot give any clarity on his departure from the firm. “Let’s just say that there are two sides to every story and sometimes life isn’t fair,” he says.

After leaving Knight Frank, he founded DDRE in 2020. In the four years since, DDRE has sold £600 million of real estate, most of it in the UK.

His business has also included a content creation arm – think made-for-TikTok sizzle reels of well-dressed agents giving tours of mansions – that has featured on the show.

The goal? Boosting his agents’ profiles and getting properties seen by the right buyers.

When asked if he had any nerves about starring in a reality show, he says “Of course”, but a big reason he signed his Netflix contract was for the increased exposure.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to display your talent in front of hundreds of millions of people and let them have an opportunity to choose whether they want to do business with you,” he says.

A shot of a house from Buying London. Buying London debuts during a slowdown in London’s super-prime property market. Photo: Netflix

That exposure has paid off for the Kretz family, stars of Netflix’s The Parisian Agency, who say they have seen increased inquiries internationally since doing the show.

Daggers was a featured guest on The Parisian Agency. In his appearance, he visited one of the Kretz listings, a 32,000 sq ft (3,000 square metre) castle in France, as the family worked to impress him to form a partnership on super-prime properties.

Daggers says being on the episode helped him understand the Netflix platform a little more.

“That show created a lot of opportunities for them – and us,” he says.

Still, it is a complicated time to display some of London’s most exclusive real estate on the global stage. In January, prime central London properties sold below 90 per cent of their asking price for the first time since early 2019, according to data from network and data platform LonRes.

A shot of a house from Buying London. Daggers expects viewers will enjoy getting an inside look at the upper echelons of London real estate. Photo: Netflix

The spring, traditionally a very busy time for the prime London market, has been “a little lacklustre”, according to recent Knight Frank analysis.

“We are in a place now where buyers are unsure as to whether they want to buy, and sellers don’t believe they are going to get the price that they are looking for, so that does create quite a slow market,” says Daggers.

“If you’ve been unrealistic with your pricing, you’re not going to achieve it in this current market.”

On the flip side, he says the conditions now may be ideal for buyers – some of whom may be watching the property tours on the show.

“When the market’s hot, people are piling in, but it’s often not the best opportunity to buy real estate. But now might be,” he says.

Either way, Daggers expects viewers will enjoy getting an inside look at the upper echelons of London real estate.

“I suspect my life will change quite a bit when the show comes out,” he adds. “Everyone wants to look at beautiful homes.”

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