NAR reported an historic member count in 2022 of 1.58 million, a 1.4% growth from 2021. The trade group has forecasted that the 2023 count will drop by approximately 7% to approximately 1.47 million. Real estate has always see-sawed with the market – in flush times, agents rush into the business and serve the increased number of buyers and sellers. In tighter times, the workforce contracts. The predominant independent contractor structure in the industry accommodates this fairly fluidly. The structure also contributes to a challenge of maintaining high service quality.