Soon thereafter, the COVID-19 pandemic shut it all down.
Home viewings were ordered to stop, there were no open houses, and transactions were all but impossible to execute. In fact, many pending transactions during the month of March were cancelled and earnest money returned to the would have been buyer.
April 2020 had 0 (zero) transactions for just the second time in a dozen years.
Rumors of pent-up demand were swirling as the lockdown continued to isolate those in smaller spaces downtown. Interest rates nearing record lows, the purchasing power of mortgagees increased meaningfully. When private viewings were given the all-clear in May, sales exploded in a magnitude greater than any year since before the financial crisis.
Then, BOOM!