"A lot of people are always going to need to live in houses wherever they are in the world despite the recession. No matter how dull the market seems to be, of course this is good news for real estate agents. After all, if you sell homes, your real competitors are not agents nor other homes that are also for sale but, rather, your own marketing techniques. Compete with yourself in trying to get as many people consider the properties you're selling and you will probably make more sales than any other external strategies you can think of.