With 1600 boards signing up new members every day, it will be impossible to know which lucky Realtor will be the one millionth to join the National Association of Realtors, but NAR spokesperson Steve Cook says that day is close.

"We are close to one million members at 980,000," says Cook, "so at the current rate of membership growth, we expect the one millionth member to join in the first quarter of 2004."

The NAR has grown over 25 percent in the last five years. Are more people entering real estate or are more agents turning to NAR membership to boost their careers? To find out, the NAR is doing an exhaustive study, but results aren't available yet.

"One reason we are growing is that the housing market continues to be good," explains Cook, "and 2004 will be the second best housing year in history. Housing isn't going to tank, and volume will be good."

Second, he says, a greater number of licensees have decided to become Realtors. "We've seen less attrition," says Cook. "It may be our services, advertising campaign or that having a Realtor is more important to consumers."

So who's joining the NAR? Young, displaced Internet executives, as some suggest? While he won't reveal NAR's research results yet, Cook suggests that the influx of new, younger Realtors hasn't moved the needle much because older, more experienced Realtors are still active.

According to the NAR's 2003 Member Profile, The typical Realtor is 51, only one year younger than in 1999.

"It will take a lot to move it that much," suggests Cook. "People are living longer and working longer, and many aren't retiring at 60 or 65 the way they once did. Affordable technologies mean brokers and agents can work from home, making it easier to work at one's own pace, so that may make it harder to lower the average age."

Counterintuitively, according to the NAR's 2003 Member Profile, the experience level of agents and brokers is dropping at a faster rate than member ages.

About 13 percent of Realtors have less than two years of real estate experience, found the NAR in 2002, compared to 11 percent of Realtors in 1999. Among brokers the differences were larger. Median years of experience fell by three years, from 20 in 2001 to 17 in 2003.

Traditionally, notes the NAR, there have been very few brokers with five years of experience or less, but between 2001 and 2003, that number nearly doubled. Today, 13 percent of brokers have five years experience or less.

Are these less experienced members more or less productive? According to the profile, less than 13 percent of agents over 55 had no closed transactions in 2002, while 17 percent of new members failed to close a transaction in 2002, suggesting that older member productivity isn't slacking off.

But older, more experienced Realtors needn't rest on their laurels, either. Data also shows that by 2003, the number of brokers under 40 will rise to 16 percent, an early indication that a youthful trend is underway.