In many ways, the housing market has become bifurcated during the pandemic. While high-end home sales have slowed, new home sales haven't been impacted by the pandemic. Housing developer Baldwin & Sons has continued to see strong sales in its new developments. In addition, home pricing has increased at these properties without hampering sales activity.

"When the Coronavirus initially began affecting California, we weren't sure how it would impact our business," Melissa Hazlett, VP of sales and marketing for Baldwin & Sons, tells GlobeSt.com. "We recognize that as a homebuilding company we were fortunate to have been deemed an essential business from the start and that both our construction and sales efforts could continue, albeit with precautions in place to keep workers and customers safe. We quickly overhauled our sales process, taking a lot of the elements online, and it's worked wonderfully. A lot of our communities continue to sell out and we've had positive feedback from many of the buyers who went through the sales process with us during this unique time. We have seen pricing go up however that hasn't produced any effects such as a slowdown in sales, adjustments to loan terms or changes in the escrow process."

The low interest rates have been essential to driving sales activity. Now, rates are dropping again, and the developer is predicting a new surge in sales. "Throughout the duration of the coronavirus, we have seen exceptionally low interest rates," Hazlett says. "These record low rates have undoubtedly attracted buyers, and our communities in San Diego and Orange Counties have experienced strong sales volume over the past two quarters," says . Last week rates dropped again, as reported by Freddie Mac in an October 1 report, with the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reaching 2.88 percent. To compare, these rates were 3.65 percent a year ago."