Selling Sunset’s Oppenheim Group Opens Its Fifth Office in Dubai: 7,000 Square Feet on Bluewaters Facing Ain Dubai, About 20 Agents Under Omar Abaza, and What a Foreign Brokerage Needs in a Market That Paid AED 13.59 Billion in Commissions in 2025

2026-09-09

The Oppenheim Group, the Los Angeles brokerage whose agents star in the Netflix series Selling Sunset, is opening its fifth office and its first outside North America in Dubai. The office covers 7,000 square feet (about 650 square metres) on Bluewaters Island, faces the Ain Dubai observation wheel and is run by Managing Partner Omar Abaza with a team of about 20 agents, according to reports by Arabian Business and What’s On on 9 September 2026 that draw on an interview Jason Oppenheim gave to the US magazine PEOPLE. The firm is entering a market that registered AED 917 billion (USD 249.7 billion) of real estate transactions in 2025 and AED 419.94 billion in the first half of 2026, and where brokerage commissions reached AED 13.59 billion in 2025 across 32,294 registered brokers and 9,785 brokerage offices, according to the Dubai Land Department. This article sets out the verified facts of the announcement, the numbers behind the market the brokerage is joining, the licensing rules that apply to any foreign brokerage in Dubai, and what the move means for buyers, agents and companies in the UAE.

The announcement at a glance

What was announced and by whom

The news came out on 9 September 2026 through an interview Jason Oppenheim gave to PEOPLE, picked up the same day by Arabian Business and by the Dubai listings magazine What’s On. Oppenheim, the president and founder of the brokerage and a former attorney, said Dubai is “such an important market” and that the firm “would be remiss not to do it”. He described the overlap between the two markets in one sentence: “So many of our clients live in Dubai part-time, or live in Southern California and travel to Dubai.” The firm, he added, still wants to remain a boutique brokerage.

The office is on Bluewaters, the man-made island off Jumeirah Beach Residence, and its windows frame Ain Dubai, the 250-metre observation wheel that opened on 21 October 2021. What’s On describes 7,000 square feet of space with double-height windows, lounge areas, a pool table and a marble coffee bar. The company’s own website already lists “United Arab Emirates (Bluewaters, Dubai)” among its offices next to the four North American addresses, and a separate UAE site, ogroupuae.com, is live with team profiles and a mortgage calculator.

The Dubai office is headed by Omar Abaza, a long-time friend of Jason Oppenheim according to What’s On. The company’s biography describes him as Managing Partner leading the UAE expansion, with more than 20 years of real estate experience in the United States and the Middle East, educated in the US and fluent in English, Arabic and French. He joined the firm in 2020 and, according to the same page, spearheaded its entry into the Dubai luxury market. His agent page carries a Dubai broker registration number (BRN), which means he already holds the RERA broker card required to transact property in the emirate. About 20 agents are already part of the Dubai team.

Two things were not announced: the opening date of the office and the size of the investment. Arabian Business calls it a multimillion-dollar debut in its headline; no investment figure or opening date appears in the company’s own materials or in the What’s On report, and we do not repeat estimates the company has not confirmed.

Who The Oppenheim Group is

The Oppenheim Group is a residential brokerage focused on luxury homes in Southern California. Jason Oppenheim relaunched the firm in 2013 and opened its Sunset Boulevard office in West Hollywood in 2014. The company states that it has closed more than USD 5.3 billion (about AED 19.5 billion) in sales and holds more than USD 500 million (about AED 1.84 billion) in active listings. Beyond Los Angeles it operates in Newport Beach, San Diego and Cabo San Lucas.

The brokerage owes its global name to television. Selling Sunset premiered on Netflix on 22 March 2019 and has released nine seasons, the latest on 29 October 2025, with season 10 in production in 2026. The spin-off Selling the OC, built around the Newport Beach office, premiered on 24 August 2022. The shows follow the firm’s agents as they list and sell homes to wealthy and celebrity clients, which is why the Dubai office is being reported by entertainment outlets as much as by property media. If season 11 is filmed in Dubai, the production would work under the permit system of the Dubai Film and TV Commission, as every foreign shoot in the emirate does.

Why Bluewaters

Bluewaters is a project by the Dubai developer Meraas that opened in November 2018, built about 400 metres off the Jumeirah Beach Residence shoreline and connected to it by a pedestrian bridge; the encyclopaedic estimate of its cost is AED 6 billion. The island combines residential buildings, hotels, retail and entertainment, and its centrepiece is Ain Dubai, the tallest observation wheel in the world at 250 metres, with 48 capsules. The location gives the brokerage a street-level presence next to the beachfront communities it will sell: Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Palm Jumeirah and Bluewaters itself.

The island is also a product in its own right. In Bayut’s data for the first half of 2026, which we covered in our article on Dubai’s luxury homebuyers and the shift to waterfront and ready homes, Bluewaters Island was among the most searched communities for ultra-luxury apartments after Palm Jumeirah, and apartment asking prices there rose 1.84% over the half-year while Palm Jumeirah stayed broadly flat. For a brokerage whose pitch is the beachfront lifestyle, an address with the wheel in the window is the showroom.

The market the brokerage is entering

The numbers below come from the Dubai Land Department (DLD), published through the Government of Dubai Media Office and the Dubai Department of Finance.

Two points stand out for a foreign entrant. First, the market is deep at the top: the luxury segment alone was worth AED 87.71 billion in the first quarter of 2026, and foreign buyers accounted for AED 148.35 billion of investment in the same three months. Second, it is still growing on population rather than on speculation alone: Dubai reached 4.74 million residents by mid-2026, and the housing stock is approaching one million homes, as we set out in our review of the one-million-homes milestone and in our outlook for the second half of 2026. The regulator’s own roadmap to 2033, presented at IPS 2026 in Dubai this week, targets AED 1 trillion in annual transactions.

Dubai’s brokerage industry in numbers

The Oppenheim Group is not entering an empty field. According to DLD figures released by the Dubai Media Office on 9 March 2026, the brokerage sector closed 2025 as follows:

• Brokerage commissions of AED 13.59 billion (USD 3.7 billion), up 31% on 2024.
• 96,440 transactions executed through brokers, up 54%.
• 32,294 registered brokers, including 13,083 who registered during 2025 alone, a 38% increase in new entrants.
• 11,371 women brokers, who earned AED 2.98 billion in commissions (up 83%) on 28,909 transactions.
• 9,785 registered brokerage offices operating across the emirate.

Divide the commission pool by the number of broker-executed deals and the average commission per transaction in 2025 comes to about AED 141,000 (our calculation), which reflects how much of the brokered volume sits in the upper price brackets. DLD also runs the Dubai Real Estate Brokers Programme to bring more Emiratis into the profession and a brokers’ incubator with Dubai Silicon Oasis. In other words, the regulator is expanding the pool of licensed agents at the same time as international brands arrive to compete for the top of it.

What a foreign brokerage needs to operate in Dubai

Real estate brokerage in Dubai is a regulated activity under Bylaw No. 85 of 2006, which established the Brokers Register, now kept by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), a unit of DLD. No person or company may broker property in the emirate unless it is licensed and entered in that register. The building blocks are the same for a Los Angeles brand and for a two-person start-up:

1. A licensed company. The brokerage needs a trade licence that includes the real estate brokerage activity, in most cases a mainland licence from the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, and RERA’s approval is part of the licensing file. The company is then entered in the Brokers Register and receives a registration certificate stating its office registration number, validity and approved activities. Foreign ownership of 100% has been available for most mainland activities since June 2021; the structure for a specific activity is confirmed with the licensing authority at application stage.
2. A broker card for every agent. Each individual broker holds a card issued by DLD through the Trakheesi system, showing a broker registration number, validity and the name of the employing brokerage. DLD’s service page lists the requirements: a personal photograph, a copy of the Emirates ID, a certificate of good conduct from Dubai Police and a pass in the annual practice exam, which follows the certified brokers’ training course run by the Dubai Real Estate Institute. The published fees are AED 500 for the card and AED 700 for the exam, plus small knowledge and innovation fees; the card is issued within minutes once the file is complete, and its validity is tied to the company’s trade licence.
3. Residence visas. The broker card is issued under the employing brokerage, so a firm bringing in 20 agents also sponsors 20 residence visas and work permits, plus visas for the managing partner and back-office staff. Visa quotas depend on the office space, which is one reason a 7,000-square-foot lease matters beyond the view.
4. RERA forms and Trakheesi permits. Listings are signed with the seller on RERA’s Form A, buyers are engaged on Form B, and the sale itself is documented on Form F; every property advertisement must carry a permit number issued through Trakheesi. Commission is payable only under a registered brokerage agreement, which is why the unified forms exist.
5. A corporate bank account. Commissions from developers and clients are settled through a UAE account in the company’s name; banks ask for the trade licence, the RERA registration, the office lease and the profile of the shareholders before opening one.

What the move means for business in the UAE

1. For buyers and investors. A brokerage whose clients divide their time between California and Dubai adds one more channel for cross-border sellers of villas and penthouses, and one more competitor for the listings that already sit with Dubai’s established luxury agencies. Commission in the secondary market is agreed in the RERA forms and in market practice is usually 2% of the price paid by the buyer; a new entrant does not change that mechanism.
2. For agents. A brand with a global audience recruiting about 20 agents at launch competes for the same experienced brokers as the 9,785 existing offices. For an agent the brand and the television exposure are the pitch; the licensing steps are identical.
3. For founders considering a brokerage of their own. The barrier to entry is procedural rather than financial: a licensed company, RERA registration, a broker card per agent, an office and visas. The commission pool grew 31% in 2025 while the number of brokers grew by more than 13,000, so the market rewards specialisation, whether by community (Bluewaters, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Hills) or by client base (buyers from a specific country or language).
4. For the wider service economy. A high-profile office on Bluewaters and a possible Netflix season shot in Dubai bring work for fit-out contractors, production companies, hospitality and relocation firms, all of which are licensed activities in Dubai in their own right.

Checklist for opening a real estate brokerage in Dubai

• Choose the licensing route: a Department of Economy and Tourism mainland licence with the real estate brokerage activity is the standard path; confirm RERA’s requirements before signing an office lease.
• Reserve the trade name and prepare the shareholders’ documents; check the foreign-ownership rules for the activity at application stage.
• Lease an office that fits the planned headcount, since visa quotas are tied to space.
• Complete the Dubai Real Estate Institute course and the RERA exam for every agent and obtain broker cards through Trakheesi (AED 500 per card, AED 700 per exam).
• Apply for residence visas and work permits for the managing partner, agents and staff.
• Set up Trakheesi access for advertising permits and use RERA Forms A, B and F for every listing, buyer and sale.
• Open a corporate bank account and put an accounting system in place for commission income, VAT at 5% and corporate tax filings.

How Atlant Capital can help

Atlant Capital works with founders and companies from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the wider CIS that enter the UAE market. We register mainland and free zone companies, including real estate brokerage, property management and consulting activities, and prepare the file for RERA registration. We arrange residence and work visas for partners, agents and staff, and we open corporate bank accounts with UAE banks, with the documents a bank expects from a brokerage. For investors buying property through a broker, we check the licence and the broker card behind the listing before any deposit is paid.

Conclusion

The Oppenheim Group’s Dubai office is a small operation in numbers, 7,000 square feet and about 20 agents, in a market that paid its brokers AED 13.59 billion in 2025 and registered AED 419.94 billion of transactions in the first half of 2026. Its importance is in the signal: a Los Angeles brokerage with a global television audience has decided that its Southern California clients are already in Dubai often enough to justify a fifth office here. For anyone selling, buying or brokering property in the emirate, the rules do not change with the arrival of a famous name; the competition for prime listings and experienced agents does.

Sources: Arabian Business, 9 September 2026; What’s On, 9 September 2026 (citing PEOPLE); ogroup.com and ogroupuae.com; Dubai Land Department releases of 12 January 2026, 9 March 2026 and 9 April 2026; DLD H1 2026 data reported by Emirates 24/7 on 20 July 2026; DLD service page “Issuance of a real estate professional practice card”; Bylaw No. 85 of 2006; Bayut H1 2026 data. USD figures converted at the AED peg of 3.6725.

FAQ

Where is The Oppenheim Group’s Dubai office and how big is it?

The office is on Bluewaters Island in Dubai, with views of the Ain Dubai observation wheel. It covers 7,000 square feet (about 650 square metres) and, according to What’s On, has double-height windows, lounge areas, a pool table and a marble coffee bar. It is the brokerage’s fifth office after West Hollywood, Newport Beach, San Diego and Cabo San Lucas, and the first outside North America. The opening date has not been published.

Who runs The Oppenheim Group in Dubai and how many agents does it have?

The Dubai office is led by Omar Abaza, Managing Partner, who joined the firm in 2020 and has more than 20 years of real estate experience in the United States and the Middle East. He holds a Dubai broker registration number. About 20 agents are already part of the Dubai team, according to the reports of 9 September 2026.

Will Selling Sunset be filmed in Dubai?

Not confirmed yet. Jason Oppenheim told PEOPLE that season 10 of Selling Sunset is in production and that filming season 11 in Dubai is a realistic next step. Netflix has not announced a Dubai season. Any foreign production filming in Dubai works under permits issued by the Dubai Film and TV Commission.

What does a foreign real estate brokerage need to operate in Dubai?

A trade licence that includes the real estate brokerage activity, registration in the Brokers Register kept by RERA under Bylaw No. 85 of 2006, a broker card for every agent issued through Trakheesi after the Dubai Real Estate Institute course and exam (AED 500 for the card and AED 700 for the exam), a certificate of good conduct from Dubai Police for each broker, an office lease, residence visas for the team and a corporate bank account. Listings and sales are documented on RERA Forms A, B and F, and every advertisement needs a Trakheesi permit number.