AS yet another viewer traipsed in and out of Jennie Bailey’s seaside home, her shoulders slumped in dismay.
So after 12 months on the market and not a single offer, the mum-of-two decided to gamble on a new trend sweeping Britain’s property market – one that could leave her tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Instead of signing up with another estate agent, she launched a raffle to win the £325,000 two-bed apartment in Roscolyn, Anglesey, with tickets costing £5 each.
Since launching in 2020 in the UK, raffle giant Omaze has made property prize draws a popular flutter for Brits. But now normal families are also setting them up as a way to flog less luxurious homes.
The craze comes as figures show a ten-day increase in the amount of time it takes to sell the average UK home – 205 days in 2025, compared to 195 in 2024.
Earlier this week, conscious of the market stagnating, the government announced plans to cut the time it takes to move by introducing binding contracts at an earlier stage in the buying process.
In the meantime, house raffles seem like a win-win.
“I thought, ‘What have I got to lose?’,” says Jennie, 43, a holiday home manager, who has sons Henry, 11, and Sebastian, nine, with husband John, 45, packaging designer.
“But without a shadow of a doubt, it’s one of the most stressful things I’ve ever done.
“There’s a chance that we’ll be left out of pocket if we don’t hit the target and our costs aren’t covered.”
From the outside looking in, you’d expect Jennie’s home – which is situated in an idyllic location that attracts tourists – to be snapped up, but the reality is very different.
“We originally marketed it at £365,000 in January 2024 before dropping the price by £40,000, to no avail,” she explains.
“I think increases in stamp duty, as well as the second home council tax in Wales, which makes it double the normal amount, has put people off buying.
“We relocated here from Stockport nearly three years ago, after originally buying it as a holiday home ourselves for £280,000. We both work from home and our sons are getting bigger, so we need more space.”
As Jennie has discovered since launching her raffle in July, they come with considerable upfront costs and a lot of legwork if you’re to hit your sales target by the draw deadline.
Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s one of the most stressful things I’ve ever done
Jennie Bailey
You also have to keep your home off the market during the competition.
Entrants, meanwhile, have the chance to pick up a property for the price of a coffee, at odds significantly lower than winning the lottery.
On the plus side for sellers, they can make a considerable profit if they shift enough tickets.
“We set the ticket price at £5 to make it attractive and we need to sell 150,000 tickets to ensure we achieve the house value,” Jennie explains.
“This would raise £750,000, but that includes all the legal costs, fees for the raffle hosts and the cash spent promoting it.
More sellers are turning to prize draws to beat the stalled housing market and get a better price for their homes[/caption]
“You can’t just put up some posters around the village. We have set aside £40,000 of savings to cover online adverts, professional photography and things like commission to third party ticket sellers.
“I spend at least an hour every day posting on our social media accounts, as well as contacting the press and content creators.
“You have to become a marketing expert overnight and it’s also hard to convince people it’s not a scam.
‘Hard to switch off’
“Our deadline is January 1, 2026 and it feels like every second counts – it’s hard to switch off.
“I can’t sleep and check the ticket sales at all hours. It’s all anyone wants to ask me about.”
The Baileys are using online platform Raffall to host their draw.
CEO Stelios Kounou founded the company ten years ago to help everyone from schools to big brands run legally compliant competitions.
The first personal house giveaway was in 2019, a year before Omaze launched in the UK.
“We are a tech company and our clients are the competition organisers – we make money off the commission from doing this, whereas Omaze run the draws themselves,” he says.
“We host the entry platform, but also ensure draws comply with UK and international law, as well as the rules of different social media platforms.
“We hold the money and draw the winner, only releasing the cash once the prize has been claimed.”
Homeowners wanting to sign up to Raffall are supported before, during and after the process, including opportunities to email their marketing list and referrals to solicitors with expertise in house raffles.
The potential to get more money for your house is a big incentive for running a raffle, along with trying to get around a stagnant property market
Stelios Kounou
“The potential to get more money for your house is a big incentive for running a raffle, along with trying to get around a stagnant property market,” says Stelios.
“But we try to manage expectations and explain the effort required for success.
“You have to take it seriously and invest your time, creating an active social media presence around the competition.”
To date, 18 people have successfully raffled their homes on the platform in the UK, while 55 have failed to hit their ticket target.
Raffall now gives the option for those that fall short to still draw a winner, who gets 50 per cent of the ticket sales, with 40 per cent going to the organiser and 10 per cent to Raffall.
“It gives them an incentive to keep pushing sales until the deadline and get something back for their efforts,” says Stelios.
Jason Dale, managing director of competitions portal Loqaux, says he first saw a house raffle in 2009, but it’s only in the last five years that they have captured the public’s imagination.
“I think lockdown had a part, as people were struggling to sell and the chance to win one online acted as a distraction,” he says.
“Then Omaze came into the sector and turned it on its head by guaranteeing winners. Until then, no one had done so.”
‘A massive task’
Omaze has raffled 43 luxury homes to date, with a £4 million house in Surrey its latest competition.
Jason is sceptical about whether individual house raffles will become more commonplace, given the work involved.
“Individuals are competing against hundreds of pay-to-enter sites of all types – it’s a massive task to get the numbers in,” he warns.
But there are organisers who buck the trend.
In May this year, the draw for a two-bedroom cottage in Sligo, Ireland, went viral after the New York Times ran an article about owner Imelda Collins two days before the deadline.
It allowed her to sell £950,000 worth of tickets in the final hours and her £260,000 property was won by American Kathleen Spangler, with a donation going to charity ISPCA [Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals].
In June 2021, Nick Wyrill gave away his four-bedroom detached house in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, after selling 213,000 tickets at £2 each in six months.
“We’d heard of someone else doing it locally and they were successful. My family thought we were nuts,” says dad-of-two Nick, 39, who is married to Louise, also 39, and have Arthur, six, and Hettie, one, together.
Crucially, NHS worker Nick donated a portion of ticket sales to a charity supporting Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust in memory of his parents, who both died of cancer.
Of the £430,000 raised in ticket sales, £38,000 went to his local hospital.
Once Raffall had taken ten per cent commission, the rest went towards Nick’s new place.
“The house was valued at £350,000 so we pretty much broke even,” he says.
“But it was harder than I thought it was going to be. There was scepticism on social media as to whether it was genuine.
“We sold 50,000 tickets within the first week and 50,000 on the last day when there was a buzz around the deadline.
“We were on social media five hours a day promoting it alongside our full-time jobs. I’m not sure I’d do it again.”
Jennie has three months until her draw and admits: “There are days when I regret taking it off the market.
“We have no idea what price we’ll ultimately get, or if we’ll even be able to move.
“But ultimately, I don’t want to fail and I’d love for another person to get to enjoy this flat as much as we have.”
- Find out more about Jennie’s raffle at dreamhomewales.co.uk.
HOUSE RAFFLES – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Property raffles in the UK must be run as a prize competition not a lottery.
Raffall states that tickets can cost between 50p or £100, with a minimum of 200 available, but you can also do promotions to give away additional ‘free’ tickets.
A raffle can be open-ended and only drawn when the last ticket is sold, but most organisers set a closing date with a target for a minimum sale of paid-for tickets.
If this is reached, the house is given away.
If not, the ticket revenue is split between the winner, organiser and host platform.
The latter holds all the money, does the draw and will not release funds until it is satisfied the competition has been carried out correctly.
Should an organiser fail to provide the prize, the winner receives cash compensation of 75 per cent of ticket sales and the organiser gets nothing.
If you are concerned that a property raffle might not be legitimate, do checks before handing over your personal and financial details.
Looking at whether the website is an official platform or seems genuine, and read the competition terms and conditions, ensuring basics like closing date are spelled out.
You cannot cancel a competition once tickets have been sold. Raffall allow you to bring the closing date forward but a winner is selected as normal and the cash pot split in the winner’s favour.
