Real estate agents are fleeing the field. Is that good for homebuyers?

When real estate broker April Strickland looks at her local housing market in Gainesville, Fla., she sees a mismatch. Industry data show that only a few hundred homes are sold each month, she said, yet there are more than 1,500 local Realtors.

Strickland has seen the ups and downs of the housing market since 1995, when she started managing her parents’ rental properties as a teenager. But she says the business environment of the past two years is the most challenging she can remember — slower even than the years following the 2008 financial crisis.