Prospective buyers attend an open house in San Francisco on November 4.
Mandatory Credit:	Michaela Vatcheva/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Prospective buyers attend an open house in San Francisco on November 4.
Mandatory Credit: Michaela Vatcheva/Bloomberg/Getty Images

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How 4.5 million people managed to buy a home this year amid the toughest market in a generation

This has been a year of superlatives in residential real estate — and not in a good way.