The state Department of Real Estate reported that by the end of 2009, 503,284 people had California real estate licenses — down 29,247 or 5.5% from the end of 2008. December’s agent total was the lowest monthly total since May 2006.

Still, California had one real estate agent for every 25 households in the state by the end of 2009.The decline in agents has led to slightly less competition …

• In 2007, when to total number of people with real estate licenses peaked at 549,244, the state had one agent for every 23 households in the state.
• At the start of the decade, however, there 38 households for every real estate licensee.
• Put another way, California had one agent for every 76 men, women and children in the state in December.
• That compares to one per 69 residents in 2007, when the number of licensees peaked. But that’s down from 112 at the start of the decade.

State figures show further:

• Starting in 2000, California saw an uninterrupted increase in the number of real estate agents for 7 1/2 years while home sales and prices boomed.
• But well into the housing slump, the number of agents began a two-year drop.
• During that time, broker licenses held steady, while the number of “sales agents” — those who must be employed by a broker to work — fell 12%.
• California had a record 398,716 sales agents in November 2007. By last December, there were 350,870 sales agents.
• The number of brokers, meanwhile, increased since November 2007, holding steady at 152,000 or more from April 2008 on.