  A number of deep, wide-field, near-infrared surveys employing new infrared
cameras on 4m-class telescopes are about to commence. These surveys have the
potential to determine the fraction of luminous dust-obscured quasars that may
have eluded surveys undertaken at optical wavelengths. In order to understand
the new observations it is essential to make accurate predictions of surface
densities and number-redshift relations for unobscured quasars in the
near-infrared based on information from surveys at shorter wavelengths. The
accuracy of the predictions depends critically on a number of key components.
The commonly used single power-law representation for quasar SEDs is inadequate
and the use of an SED incorporating the upturn in continuum flux at
lambda~12000 A is essential. The presence of quasar host galaxies is
particularly important over the restframe wavelength interval 8000 < lambda <
16000 A and we provide an empirical determination of the magnitude distribution
of host galaxies using a low redshift sample of quasars from the SDSS DR3
quasar catalogue. A range of models for the dependence of host galaxy
luminosity on quasar luminosity is investigated, along with the implications
for the near-infrared surveys. Even adopting a conservative model for the
behaviour of host galaxy luminosity the number counts for shallow surveys in
the K-band increase by a factor of two. The degree of morphological selection
applied to define candidate quasar samples in the near-infrared is found to be
an important factor in determining the fraction of the quasar population
included in such samples.
