WINNIPEG -- June marked a record number of home sales in a single month, according to the Manitoba Real Estate Association.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to the real estate industry back in the spring, things have started to pick up.

Kaya Wheeler, a first-time homebuyer, said even with the pandemic going on, she still wants to find a home of her own.

“When we do go see homes, we have been asked not to touch surfaces, like turning off and on lights, like maybe not to do that,” she said.

“There’s usually hand sanitizer as soon as you walk in the door.”

Glen Tosh, president of the Manitoba Real Estate Association, said when the province first shut down, houses weren’t selling -- now it’s a selling frenzy

“There’s definitely some pent-up demand because the real estate market kind of, in a sense, lost out on the latter half of March and most of the month of April, where there was very limited number of sales,” he said.

According to the Manitoba Real Estate Association, 2,015 residential properties sold in June, which is $616.1 million in total dollar volume. So far this year, there have been over 7,100 residential sales, which represents 97 per cent of the total unit sales over the same time period last year.

“Brandon and Winnipeg are our two major centres that we have the most data on, and they're both up in the month of June,” Tosh said.

“We also recently attained some data that cottage sales are up significantly in the month of June, plus in the year, they are up almost 50 per cent.”

Real estate agent Monica Manaigre said there’s actually a shortage of houses for sale.

“Twenty-nine per cent of houses sold in June sold for over list price, so we are seeing a lot more buyers and not quite enough inventory,” she said.

That’s something Wheeler knows first-hand.

“We were looking at a house and an offer was accepted while we were still in the house,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler said there are a few houses in her price range, but they are going fast. She said she has put offers out, but she wasn’t the only one.

“I think there were six or seven offers on the same house,” she said.

Wheeler’s advice for other first time homebuyers is to go slow and take their time to find their perfect first home.