Summary: Pandemic, shelter in place, mass unemployment, terrible financial hardships for many residents and small businesses, new ways of working, office buildings empty, people move, dreadful fires, an anxious presidential election, interest rates to historic lows, stock markets to new highs, IPO mania breaks out again, vaccines begin to arrive – and the real estate market went into hyper-drive, with median home sales prices hitting new peaks. The luxury home market in particular was extremely strong. 2020: a year of extremes.