"Before the pandemic, you would see a line of 20 people standing outside a restaurant downtown. Now you drive downtown, there’s nothing happening. But out in the suburbs, you see lines of 20 people waiting to see a house."

Albert Saenz of Austin, Texas, who has been a real estate agent since 2003, commenting to The New York Times for its recent story, “Will Real Estate Ever Be Normal Again?” The median home price in small- and medium-size metropolitan areas has risen by jaw-dropping levels: Boise, Idaho, 46 percent; Phoenix, 36 percent, and Austin, 35 percent since March 2020, according to the NY Times report.