Change in the number of appraisers since 2000!

My comment: I like to use California data as trainees were licensed, giving a much better picture that asc.gov, which does not include trainees, only licensed and certified. The number of residential appraisers has always gone way up and down, dependent on mortgage lending volumes. Lenders will start allowing trainees when the number of appraisers get too low. About half the residential trainees/appraisers lose their jobs in the downturns. Nothing new. Commercial appraising has always been much steadier as there was reliable, steady work.

This was posted 5/25 by George Hatch on the very active http://appraisersforum.com 

I’ve been keeping track of the number of licensees in my state (California) for a long time now. As of this morning this is what it looks like:

– The low point in numbers was in 2001-2002, but the percentage comparisons are made against 2000.
– The number of fully licensed/certified residential appraisers last bottomed out at less that 6,000 heads before nearly doubling by 2008.
– The number of CGs have steadily declined each year during the entire time frame except that we had a one-time bump (~170 heads) in 2007 prior to the increase in qualifications criteria.
– Even though the number of fully licensed/certified residential appraisers is 23% lower than the 2008 peak it’s still 36% higher than it was 10 years ago.
– The number of CGs has dropped to within 19 heads of the previous low spot in 2003, and remains 17% lower than the 2000 number. I would imagine this year we’ll lose enough more heads to result in the new low.
– If any of you residential appraisers (in CA) are actually giving serious consideration to restarting your puppy mill operations just remember that the CA market is still grossly overserved relative to the number of appraisers prior to 2005. You’ll be cutting your own throats – again – the next time the markets bust.