NAR economist forecasts home prices, resales will rise in 2010

Home prices are forecast to go back up again, joining home resales in their upward trend, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, who spoke at the group’s annual conference and expo in San Diego today. In the past, NAR’s forecasts have been characterized as overly optimistic. Nonetheless, Yun predicted that home prices will rise by 4 percent, while home resales, which are expected to reach 5 million this year, will surpass that level in 2010, hitting 5.7 million. Average mortgage rates will average roughly 5.7 percent, he said. [AP via Yahoo Finance]