Real Estate

‘Mr Super Prime’ resigns after posting home on Instagram


A high-end London estate agent known as “Mr Super Prime” has left Knight Frank after posting images of a wealthy client’s home on Instagram without the seller’s permission.

Daniel Daggers, who has 30,000 Instagram followers and frequently uploads pictures of luxury homes, sports cars and movie premieres, departed late last year after a client said the publicly available photos invaded their privacy and created a security risk, according to people briefed on his departure.

Knight Frank, which had been hired to sell the London home, usually defines “super-prime” properties as worth at least £10m, one of the people said.

During his 12 years with the Knight Frank, Mr Daggers, 40, rose to become a partner in the group’s super-prime London team. He built up his online presence in the style of US estate agents, who often become more well-known than the brands they work for, and held sessions for colleagues on how to use social media.

“Knight Frank can confirm Daniel Daggers resigned in November 2019 and will leave the firm in February 2020,” the company said. Mr Daggers declined to comment in a telephone call with the Financial Times, but has posted on social media that he is on “gardening leave”.

Knight Frank, a partnership with turnover of £517m last year, operates internationally but more than half of its revenues come from the UK. The high-end residential property market — where the company has a long history — has been floundering over the past four years, resulting in fierce competition among agents for scarce deals.

Daniel Daggers Instagram account, which has 30,000 followers
Daniel Daggers’ Instagram account, which has 30,000 followers

Henry Pryor, a buying agent for high-end homes with 29,500 followers on Twitter, said it was essential for agents to maintain an active online presence.

“More than half of my business comes from social media and from online,” he said. “Last week I bid on a £3.6m house on behalf of someone who follows me on Twitter.”

“It raises the question of whether the people are now more important than the [estate agency] brands.” However, Mr Pryor said concerns over potential blowback from online posts were “constant”, especially in a business dealing with people’s private homes.

“All the rules that apply offline apply online, and people sometimes forget that,” he said.

Mr Daggers last year won a Property Adviser of the Year award from the wealth management magazine Spear’s. He later told the magazine he had been involved in the sale of almost 500 properties totalling £3bn in sales, including last year’s purchase of a £95m Georgian house near Buckingham Palace by the US hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin.

Knight Frank made a £148m pre-tax profit in 2019, down 11.1 per cent from a year earlier, according to accounts released last week.





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