Full transcript: Dubai Real, Episode 1
0:04 History is written by movement. Right now, the largest migration of wealth in modern times is underway, and Dubai is at the centre of it. Not by accident, by design. Tax freedom, security, world-class infrastructure.
0:32 The city isn’t just growing, it’s accelerating. You can feel it: the momentum, the ambition, the speed. While the West feels stuck in managed decline, Dubai is busy building the future. This city has positioned itself as one of the most dynamic property markets in the world, built on infrastructure, leadership and a long-term vision that’s actually being executed.
1:10 If you want exposure to this promising future, real estate is the clearest, most liquid way to express that conviction. And when markets move, luxury real estate moves first. But this is where things get complicated. Because this is a fast market, and not everything that glitters is gold.
1:38 For every genuine opportunity, there’s a shortcut. For every fortune, there’s a fugazi. That’s why I’m here, on the ground, asking the hard questions, looking for asymmetric returns, doing the work most people never see. My job is simple: to multiply our money, protect our investors, and only position our capital where the upside is real.
2:11 Because one thing is certain: this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And if we manage our risk intelligently, there is a lot of money to be made. This is Dubai Real.
2:38 My name is Brian Rose. I’m the founder and host of London Real. For the past 15 years, I’ve studied one thing: how people actually win. I’ve spoken to thousands of guests, hosted global summits, produced and directed six documentary films, and ran to be Mayor of London twice.
3:09 I’ve run triathlons, stepped into the ring to fight, built businesses, and graduated over 5,000 students from our London Real Academy. Along the way, I learned from some of the best. Real estate from Robert Kiyosaki.
3:31 The rich don’t work for money. They have money working for them. Very big difference in mentality.
3:34 Scale and execution from Grant Cardone.
3:37 Money is useless until it is used.
3:41 And risk-taking from the trillion-dollar man himself, Dan Peña.
3:47 Just imagine if you die **** miserable tonight, the regrets you’re carrying to the grave. I wish I could have, I **** should have.
3:57 Before London Real, I spent 15 years on Wall Street, and I learned something critical. Winners don’t chase headlines, they chase access. When you’re deploying serious capital, you don’t look at what’s trending. You look at what’s trading: who’s closing, at what price, and why.
4:20 After 5 years on the ground in Dubai, I’ve started to understand this market the same way I understood Wall Street: by watching who moves first and who follows. And in this city, there’s one broker who sees that behaviour early, Ben Bandari. Two decades in this market, billions in transactions, representing some of the most sophisticated buyers in Dubai.
4:49 I’ve seen it all, right from the beginning, from 2002 up until today. You have to come here, you have to see it, you have to experience it to believe it. And we’re seeing a lot of billionaires and a lot of other high-net-worth people bring their families here and invest in properties. There’s really no comparison. You have 1,000 families moving to Dubai weekly.
5:08 Everybody’s looking to come here. Every time there’s a crisis in the world, people move to Dubai, right? So, Russia-Ukraine war, people move. COVID, people move. Taxes get worse in London, people move. It’s like whenever there’s a crisis…
5:21 The Arab Spring, the wars. I’ve experienced so many wars within the region. I’ve been here since 2002. You saw that.
5:26 Right. And then for a couple of days, for a week, everyone was like, “Oh, wow. Oh my God. The Middle East? It’s crazy. There’s a war.” And then what happens? Everyone moves to Dubai. The money pours in, because of the safety, because of the security, because of the stability. And because it’s a safe haven.
5:45 Afterwards, I asked him off camera, “Where is the real upside in Dubai?” He didn’t point to the coastline. He didn’t point to downtown. He pointed away from all of it, and gave me an address I’d never heard of. He said, “If you want to understand where the real money is made, you have to look where nobody else is looking.” So, that’s where I’m going.
6:40 Brian, how are you?
6:42 Brian Rose, London Real. Hi. It’s nice to see you.
6:44 Nice to see you too, man. Let’s go and take a look. Brian, what do you think?
7:06 Nice place.
7:07 Not bad, right?
7:10 So, let me cut to the chase. I spent all morning in all of the luxury places here in Dubai. I was downtown by the Burj, went to the Palm, went to the Binghatti area where you’ve got all these branded buildings going up. You’ve got Lamborghini, you’ve got the Bugatti, you’ve got the new Mercedes-Benz. There’s like 11 towers down there. It’s all off-plan luxury, which has been making people a lot of money for the past few years.
7:35 They’ve got a saying where I’m from: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And I’m here in Dubai from London to try to find great investments. We want to deploy some capital, but my investors expect me to really be careful, do the due diligence, and get them the most return for the lowest amount of risk. Why not just stick with something that’s proven, something that works? And so, I’m wondering, what the hell am I doing way out here in what feels like the middle of nowhere?
8:06 Firstly, do you think that if someone needs to brand a residence like Mercedes, that it’s actually luxury? The way that I see it is that luxury is defined by scarcity, something that’s not readily available.
8:19 What type of people are buying places like this?
8:23 You’re getting all the ultra-high-net-worth individuals whose time is extremely valuable. They don’t have time to come in and upgrade themselves. They want to come in, have the furniture, have the design, have the interiors, and be able to just move their family in and start working, because their time is precious. I’m going to take you around and show you what luxury really is.
8:48 I need you to feel this. This is a leathered marble finished countertop. So, now this is a very family-oriented cinema room. If you see, this is all acoustic.
9:05 Brian, where do you get this in Dubai? Do you really think that you’re in Dubai right now?
9:10 No, it feels like we’re in some oasis somewhere. I mean, it’s kind of hard to believe. The greenery. Very peaceful out here.
9:17 This is something that is impossible to craft at a magnitude like doing a master community, or doing a building tower. This is one of one. Everything that we do is always bespoke. Now, Brian, this is luxury.
9:50 Man, it’s nice. That’s the lake you were talking about over there.
9:52 This is kind of one-of-one attention to detail. But I need to show you the walk-in closet. You have this pocket door coming into this huge walk-in closet. But look at this.
10:06 Crazy, man. You’ve got the bathtub overlooking the park. I mean, look at this. This walkway is 6 km. It goes all the way around and through the middle of Al Barari.
10:28 But tell me, what happens when the buyers of these things dry up? You know, what happens when you can’t turn these beautiful projects into actual returns? Is that something you have to worry about?
10:39 You know, the thing is, at any given time, something like this, there’s maybe three on the market at one time, compared to 7,000 or 8,000 apartments inside Binghatti and Mercedes City. So, if you develop in the right way, they sell super easily.
10:54 So, are you telling me there’s actually a lack of ultra-luxury supply in a city that looks like it’s the ultimate in bling?
11:03 I mean, the thing is that everybody is trying to develop properties. There’s only a couple of companies that understand what luxury is. This is what we do. We express ourselves through design. We’re using Minotti, Rimadesio, all the top Italian brands that people are actually looking for, that belong in a home.
11:32 You had to admit it, the house was next level. But in Dubai, anyone can show you something flashy. That doesn’t mean they can actually build it. And if Chris and his team couldn’t deliver a finished home on time, then none of this really mattered.
11:53 For the past 5 years, I built London Real Ventures, the world’s first media-powered investment firm. We’ve now deployed over $25 million in capital into early opportunities most investors never even see. Our edge is access. Our discipline is execution. So, I had to go deeper. I asked Chris to take me to a villa still under construction, to see how these luxury transformations really come to life.
12:23 Hey Brian, I’m going to show you exactly how this works. This is very closed up. It’s very Arabic style. So, what we’re going to be doing is removing these walls, removing this wall, and tying this space into more of an open concept. And getting into exactly how we do it is quite interesting. Most developers want to take possession of the house and then they start actually doing design. We’ve almost fully designed this house before we actually take possession of it. Interior design’s done. Schematic drawings, which are your permission drawings, are done. I take keys and title, and the next day we can submit.
12:58 So, let’s talk about that, because for you to make the most amount of money for your investors, it’s all about speed.
13:05 Speed.
13:06 Right? Because if you take 2 years to do something, or 1 year, that could be 50% return versus 25% return.
13:12 100%.
13:12 So, you run this thing like every day counts.
13:14 Every day counts. The longer we take, the less money we make. We only make money when our investors make money. Our management fee is off the profit.
13:25 We will pull this whole house to the edge of the balcony, including here. And since you have this stunning greenery, you’re going to then turn this into a huge walk-in closet.
13:36 You deliver these things fully furnished? Is that right?
13:37 Fully fitted out, down to the branded sheets, pots, pans, plates, towels.
13:50 Next came a stroll through the lush greenery of the Al Barari neighbourhood, a world apart from the Dubai desert I thought I knew. His operation seemed structured, grounded and solid. Yet one question remained.
14:05 What happens, you know, when the market isn’t as bullish? It turns down a little bit. Isn’t that a risk for you in these transformation projects?
14:14 Look, the people that we’re targeting, it’s their family home. And someone that can afford $30 million is likely recession-proof. It’s somebody who looks for opportunity during these times. And then number two is we’re very conservative. So, our de-risking mechanism as well is that instead of me telling you as an investor you’re going to receive 60 or 70%, even though I know that’s achievable, I’m going to tell you we’re going to make 40%. So, people here are buying a home.
14:42 They’re not buying an investment per se. They’re not speculating. They’re living.
14:46 Exactly.
14:49 Okay. Well, look, I learned a lot today. I’m still not convinced, but I’m understanding what you’re doing here, and it’s different. I can see how this is almost like a non-correlated asset, where you can still take advantage of the luxury property boom here, but you’re taking advantage of that high-end, bespoke, turnkey end. And that can’t be mass-manufactured, by definition.
15:13 Yeah. That demand is scarce, otherwise it’s not true luxury.
15:17 Exactly. All right. Okay. Well, thanks for the time, man. To be continued.
15:23 Next week on Dubai Real, I visit Billionaires’ Row on the man-made islands of the Palm Jumeirah, where I finally understand what ultra luxury really means.
15:35 When you wake up, you want to hit the blinds, and then boom, be reminded why you paid 200 million dirhams.
15:41 You want to feel the money. Yeah.
15:43 Dubai’s top real estate broker drops some privileged information on where the real money is being invested.
15:49 You’ve got to bet on Dubai. I bet on Dubai 20 years back, and I’ve reaped the rewards. It’s just the beginning.
15:57 I gain access to a group of insiders who are building the future of Dubai, a world few ever get to see.
16:04 Dubai is the centre of the universe right now. You put your money here, and boom, you invest, 6 months later, it’s increased by 35%. Where can you do that?
16:13 But this isn’t a conclusion. It’s just the beginning. Because at London Real, we don’t deploy capital blindly. We test ideas and study the terrain.
16:24 This whole luxury transformation concept is something I don’t believe many people have ever heard of, let alone get the opportunity to invest in. I saw the value in it, and I said, I mean, count me in.
16:38 The real question is, can you stay disciplined long enough? Can you accept the risk without rushing the process? Because this journey has only just begun. This is Dubai Real.
