President’s MessageRobert Bolar As 2019 draws to a close, it’s time to start looking ahead to 2020. In the real estate market, conditions next year will be much like they were this year. Key characteristics will include low mortgage rates, rising home sales and increasing home prices. These predictions come from Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, who recently presented his 2019-2020 housing forecast at the annual Realtors conference in San Francisco.  For 2019 as a whole, he expects a 9% increase in new home sales nationwide, a 1% increase in existing sales, median price growth of 4.3% and an average of 4% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.  For 2020, his forecast looks similar except Yun …