A direct mail company that compiles lists of new businesses and organizations says in the last year some 17,390 new real estate brokerages have opened and - if you add in tangent real estate services like inspection companies and appraisers - the total number of new businesses in the real estate sector jumps by more than 30,000.

The report was issued by infoUSA, a company based in Omaha, Neb., that specializes in compiling lists of new companies for business-to-business marketing efforts.

According to the infoUSA report, 17,390 firms identifying themselves real estate enterprises filed legal papers last year to open their doors. The bulk of those companies are residential and commercial brokerages.

Boosting that count even higher, however, were a host of other real estate businesses that are not directly involved in brokerage, including:

• Real estate loans companies, 5,710
• Real estate management, 2,586
• Real estate rental services, 2,433
• Real estate investments, 2,224
• Real estate developers, 2,013
• Real estate appraisers, 1,454
• Real estate inspection, 1,244
• Real estate consultants, 532

The overall report is an interesting view of the nation's economic expansion.

In the last 12 months, for instance, papers were filed to open more than 27,712 new restaurants, and some 24,415 companies opened under the discription of "general contractor."

On the other end of the scale, only 19 new police departments started up last year and legal papers were filed for only 30 water well drilling services.

The retail trade sector grew the most in the last 12 months with 294,981 new stores opening, ranging from groceries to general merchandise.

InfoUSA says it gets its list of new companies from Secretaries of State offices, trade names and "DBAs" filed at the county or city level, and new business license registrations.

The company said that while it gets its information from official records, it also cautions that not all the entrepreneurs who file legal papers go into business, saying that between 20 and 30 percent may have a change of heart between the time they file to the time they would normally have opened their doors.