Pam Duffy

The ripple effects of a sluggish housing market extend beyond monthly home sales figures, local Realtors said.

Participation in the Realtors' database of homes for sale, known as the Multiple Listing Service, is down 5 percent this year, said Randy Durham, president of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors' MLS.

And, the number of individuals training to become real estate agents has fallen this year by nearly 75 percent, one veteran educator said.

"Our business is way off," said Ron Oslin, owner of the Tennessee Real Estate Educational System Inc., a school that has trained local agents since 1976. "A year ago I might have had 30 to 40 in a class. I have eight now."

Mr. Durham said interest in the real estate business is "definitely off its mark.

"There's only so much business to go around," he said. "There's been an oversupply of agents."

Pam Duffy, president of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors, said the organization briefly offered new-agent training but dropped the program last year.

Mr. Durham said the MLS has 1,991 participants, a 5.1 percent drop from last year's 2,099 participants. The service comprises Chattanooga Association of Realtors members and other industry executives.

However, he said database membership is at the second-highest level.

Meanwhile, the Chattanooga Association of Realtors has 1,898 members, the third-highest number on record. Last year, the association had 2,057 members, the group's highest membership level.

HOME SALES DROOP

Fall-off in new-agent training has followed the declining housing market.

From January through May there were 2,613 home sales in the Chattanooga area, down 20.4 percent from 3,281 sales in the same period a year ago, according to the Realtor association.

But Mr. Durham, a broker with Keller Williams Realty, said May's sales total of 608 was the highest monthly level this year. Although not all sales figures from June have been recorded, he expects June to outperform May.

The median sales price in May was $146,250, up from $145,000 a year ago.

Overall, median home prices in Chattanooga have risen 79 percent in 15 years and 20 percent in the past five years, Mr. Durham said.

Individuals and families looking to buy will find the market their favor, Mrs. Duffy said. It's a buyer's market, she said.

With local home prices showing growth and a large inventory of homes for sale, the Realtor association is pushing the buyer's market concept with a Web site, www.RightTimeRightMarket.com, that promotes the local real estate market.

Kaye Ivey, an agent with Keller Williams Realty, said buyers and sellers are clashing more because both want the best deal.

"Sellers still think they can get top dollar for their home," Ms. Ivey said. "But there's so many homes on the market. And buyers expect that since it's a buyers market they will get something for nothing."

AGENTS HOLD ON

Mr. Durham estimated that perhaps half of the Realtor association's members became licensed during the boom times and have not experienced a slow market.

A few agents always will be the top producers, Mrs. Duffy and Mr. Durham said.

"The saying is true that 20 percent of the agents do 80 percent of the business," Mrs. Duffy said.

Others Realtors may be content with consistent but predictable sales and some may choose to work part time.

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