Anemic economic growth, combined with a glut of distressed properties, has completely re-shaped the landscape of the real estate industry, according to Inman News.

The real estate and technology resource's 2011 Real Estate Commissions report verified these facts with some alarming statistics about the current state of the real estate sector.

In the past five years, the national median sales price for existing homes has fallen 27 percent to $177,000, while membership with the National Association of Realtors declined 26 percent, to 1.06 million, Tim Smith, CEO of Inman News, told The San Francisco Chronicle.

Smith added that he felt it is important to share this research about commissions and compensation with the real estate community in order to have a dialog about where the industry is headed in the next five to ten years.

However, commercial real estate buyers are flocking to metropolitan areas on the coasts - such as New York and Washington, D.C. - because of well-leased, income-producing properties in desirable locations, according to Bloomberg.

In addition, because of an influx of distressed deals, Phoenix was the number one U.S. city in sales by dollar volume during the first quarter of 2011.