With similar conditions affecting property markets around the world, it isn't suprising to witness house raffles and sweepstakes announced outside of the UK. As reported in Spiegel Online, this trend has also spread to Austria and Germany, where numerous property prize competitions and sweepstakes have been staged in recent months - with some notable successes.

According to the article, Traude Daniel successfully raffled her €830,000 Austrian home by selling 9,999 tickets at €99 each in December 2008. With over 18,000 people registering for the sweepstake, she was forced to reimburse a large number of tickets after one lucky winner was picked: "We were all taken by surprise and steamrolled by the number of people who signed up."

It seems this trend is set to continue, with over 40 similar Austrian house sweepstakes identified by Daniel so far - with even more expected soon.

While the legal framework differs in Germany, just like in the UK some homeowners have turned to property prize competitions as an alternative to running a simple house raffle.

One Munich resident opted for an online quiz contest to ensure his prize competition did not fall foul of any German laws. The contest has already attracted 25,000 participants out of a maximum of 48,000, indicating good demand so far from the public.

If you have come across new or innovative property prize competitions or sweepstakes in Germany or Austria; or are considering running your own win a house contest on those countries, we would be interested to hear from you. In the meantime, click here to read the full article in English on Spiegel Online.

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Re: Win a house sweepstakes spread to Austria and Germany

Hi all
I just read this quote in the Spiegel article.

The man seems to think people have no interest in anything else than a really expensive holiday home or castle...

I disagree! I would love to win a small flat in my local town. If anything it would give me better odds of winning the property!

People want a castle in the mountains or a villa on the beach," he said. "They won't join a raffle for a small apartment worth €70,000 on the outskirts of some city.

Bob , 05 Mar 2009

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Re: Win a house sweepstakes spread to Austria and Germany

@ Bob
You have a point... Although there's nothing like the WOW factor to pull in the punters.. I was looking at the Devon competition before because it was worth £1m, the location is nice and you can even make an income from it. I wouldn't care much about a one-bed flat in some other town, but I'd probably have a go if the odds were good and the flat was in London (where I live). The only exception is if it looks like I could rent it out easily, then I'd consider playing.

Saskia , 05 Mar 2009

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House raffles in Germany

Hello, and thank you for this great site. Here in Germany, we seem to have a similar distinction as you have in England. We call it a "Geschicklichkeits Spiel" which translates as "game of skill". The legality of organising such a contest, without a gaming license is still being debated. Luckily the ministry responsible for such matters has not taken such drastic measures as its equivalent seems to have done in the UK....

Thomas Hauge , 08 Mar 2009

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Re: Win a house sweepstakes spread to Austria and Germany

@ Will

Thanks for letting us know about this competition. It sounds like a good candidate to be added to our new competition directory.

We will provide lots more information on how it works and how to add a property competition after the week-end, so make sure you come back soon!

Team Win House , 13 Mar 2009

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