Real estate agents casualties of market

Real estate agents casualties of market.
Washington- Plummeting stock prices. Mortgage lenders filing for bankruptcy or shutting down. Layoffs at home builders and banks. Soaring foreclosures and loan defaults. Damage from the nation"s slumping housing market is evident throughout the economy and permeates financial markets. Add real estate agents to the growing list of victims. The National Association of Realtors expects membership rolls to decline this year for the first time in a decade. The group ended 2006 with nearly 1.4 million members - almost double the roughly 716,000 it had in 1997 - but expects 2007 to close with 1.3 million, a drop of more than 4 percent. Agents" ranks continued to rise even after the market began to cool about two years ago because of the 18-month lag between the downturn in sales and membership, says NAR spokesman Walter Molony.