NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun at the Global Real Estate Summit NYC 2018 at the Marriott Marquis hotel.

NEW YORK CITY—A packed room of real estate professionals from the New York City region were delighted to hear the economic prognostications of National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun, which included his prediction that the US will not go into recession next year or the year after.

Yun, speaking at the “Global Real Estate Summit NYC 2018 co-sponsored by the Staten Island Board of Realtors and the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors on Monday, said he also expects the US residential sales market to hold its own in 2019, despite recent declines in sales activity and the specter of rising mortgage rates. In fact, he predicted a dip in sales in 2018 and for home sales to rise in 2019.

“In my view I don't see a recession occurring in 2019 or even possibly 2020,” Yun said. “2021 is a bit too far out so one has to see new data coming in, but at least for the next few years we are fine in terms of economic expansion.”