Luxury Real Estate Brokerage Behind Netflix Hit Eyes Middle East Expansion

Omar Abaza has already fielded more than 150 applications for sales positions, and the Dubai office has not yet opened its doors.

That volume of interest reflects the pull of The Oppenheim Group, the Los Angeles brokerage behind Netflix’s Selling Sunset, which is preparing to launch a 6,500-square-foot office in Bluewaters this December. The move marks the firm’s first expansion into the Middle East, and Abaza, a longtime associate of group founder Jason Oppenheim, is leading it.

He is clear about what the television show does and does not do for the business. “Obviously the show is what brought the awareness and the recognition to The Oppenheim Group, but the reason why it’s successful is because of the quality of the brokers,” Abaza told The National. “Jason being chief among them is, in my opinion, one of the top five brokers in the US and the world. That’s what really drives our sales, the quality of our team.”

The Netflix series, now in its ninth season, built its reputation by documenting the lives and transactions of luxury agents working across Los Angeles, Orange County, and Tampa. High-value properties and the commissions that come with closing them in California’s most expensive markets have made the show a draw for aspiring brokers worldwide. Abaza says he has assembled a comparable team locally.

When the office opens, one early symbolic task will involve deciding where to position the deal-closing bell that has become part of the show’s identity. Beyond that, the team faces a more practical challenge: Dubai’s luxury real estate market has cooled.

After years of rapid growth, transaction volumes in the high-end segment slowed following the outbreak of regional conflict, and demand has shifted toward smaller units and lower price points. Asking prices have fallen across both Dubai and Los Angeles. In August alone, Los Angeles recorded 1,762 asking-price reductions that stripped $867.73 million from listed luxury properties. Dubai saw a similar correction, with 3,428 properties marked down by approximately Dh2.4 billion ($653.5 million).

The market has not stopped moving, though. In March, a 1,000-square-meter apartment on the 87th floor of the Burj Khalifa leased for around Dh12 million ($3.2 million) annually following a multimillion-dollar renovation, placing it among the country’s most expensive rental properties.

Abaza points to Dubai’s demographic profile as the basis for his confidence. “The UAE population targets and the nature of the people who are coming out here will help,” he said. “Dubai is not an inexpensive city to live in, so generally, your investor type and your end users tend to have a little bit more disposable income and capital.”

The brokerage’s agents earn no base salary. They work on closing commissions, which in the US market typically reach around 2.5 percent. On an $8 million property, that translates to roughly $200,000 per transaction. That structure has consistently drawn experienced salespeople to the firm, and Abaza expects it to do the same in the UAE.

The office itself is being designed with recruitment in mind. Abaza has indicated that the physical space and working environment will be central to attracting top-tier brokers. Plans also extend beyond Dubai, with Abu Dhabi identified as an additional opportunity for the team.

Jason Oppenheim confirmed that the UAE expansion had been under consideration for some time. Abaza’s regional knowledge and personal trustworthiness, Oppenheim said, made him the natural choice to lead it. The completed office, in Oppenheim’s view, will represent the brokerage’s standards in a new market.

Whether those standards translate into closed deals at scale, in a market still finding its footing after a prolonged correction, is the question the Bluewaters office will spend its first months answering.