Most homes in Toronto under $800,000 are either condos or basically a falling down tragedy of a home. But every now and again a small real estate miracle happens.

The Toronto area's hot COVID housing market is helping lead record home sales across the country and throwing heat at small Ontario centres

Toronto homeowner Sohail Mansoor began renting his basement apartment to healthcare workers who needed to self-isolate from their families in early April 2020.

“Logic seems to be returning to the market,” Mr. Mansoor says.

“Five months ago, if a home backed onto a train track or hydro field they received multiple offers. That wasn’t normal.”…said Mansoor.

When assessing the value of this three-bedroom bungalow in April, agent Sohail Mansoor knew the record for a bungalow on the street was nearly $1-million and the area’s best was $1,440,000. But he factored in the fact the market was cooling by billing it at $1.088-million, which four buyers viewed as a mere starting point.