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Yet in looking at the sales figures, it’s barely made a dent.
I would have said that people would be hunkered down at home waiting to see what happened to their health, their wealth, their happiness — not donning masks and gloves and charging off to see houses in the early days of a global pandemic with no end in sight.
Yet after a brief pause, the buyers and their appetites returned, evidently unfazed by the uncertainty.
I would have said that following months of living, working, schooling and dining exclusively at home, people would view their home differently.
Well, that part was true.
Broadly speaking, most of us have a new relationship with our spaces, homes and communities. Priorities have shifted for many, even those fortunate enough not to have suffered financial hardship due to the reverberations of the pandemic. Die-hard city dwellers are moving out of town to the suburbs and beyond in pursuit of less overhead, more space, closer proximity to family.
The big moves that people used to daydream about suddenly felt more realistic, sensible even. Moving back to the hometown. Downsizing and moving closer to the grandkids. Retiring to cottage country.
And now as we look towards the new year, buoyed by encouraging news on the vaccine front, it’s natural to contemplate what might come next. Will the fresh perspective hold? Or will all those people who made the great pivot be filled with regret whenever life returns to some semblance of normalcy?
