There were 1,525 sales to close in the second quarter, down 40.5% from the same period last year, the highest rate of decline, and the lowest second–quarter sales total seen in a decade. The ‘shelter-in-place’ rules issued by state mandate to fight COVID–19 effectively paused the housing market from mid-March to the last week of June. The inability of real estate brokers to provide in-house showings limited the amount of…