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Next year will deliver a better economy but consistently low mortgage interest rates, a survey of 20 top economic and housing experts organized by the National Association of Realtors predicts.

That will likely translate into even hotter housing markets across the country and an 8 percent increase in the national median home price in 2021.

The 2020 NAR Real Estate Forecast Summit survey predicts that the average interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage will sit at 3 percent in 2021 – up only slightly from 2020’s 2.83 percent – and rise only to 3.25 percent in 2022. That average had steadily fallen between late 2018’s high of 4.94 percent and early 2020’s high of 3.72 percent before falling dramatically in line with the Federal Reserve’s reduction of the Federal Funds Rate to near-zero.

“[O]ne astonishing development has been the hot housing market as consumers eyed record-low mortgage rates and reconsidered what a home should be in a new economy with flexible work-from-home schedules,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “Some markets have been performing exceptionally well throughout the pandemic and they’ll likely carry that momentum well into 2021 and beyond because of strong in-migration of new residents, faster local job market recoveries and environments conducive to work-from-home arrangements and other factors.”

The 10 hottest housing markets next year will likely be in the Sun Belt and the Midwest, with the exception of Boise, Idaho, Provo, Utah and Spokane, Washington, NAR’s survey predicted, based on factors like unemployment rates and the composition of local economies.

The summit’s participating experts also predicted 18 percent of the population would be working from home next year – down from this year’s average of 21 percent – a figure that would further shrink to 12 percent in 2022.