Pending home sales across the state climbed for the 22nd-straight month in December, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) reported. According to MAR’s December Future Indicators Report, there was a 28.7 percent increase in accepted offers since the same time last year. Median price of accepted contracts was up to $333,000, from $319,900 in December 2013.   

December single-family pending sales rose to 3,096 compared with 2,406 in December 2013.

Condominium pending sales rose to 1,091 in December 2014, compared with 910 in December 2013, an increase of 19.9 percent.

"All year buyers have been taking advantage of interest rates that seem to continually go down and down to push pending sales up and up," 2015 MAR President Corinne Fitzgerald, broker-owner of Fitzgerald Real Estate in Greenfield, said in a statement. "Just like 2014, consistent inventory gains across the state are needed to help push sales up in the New Year."

Despite the strong rise in accepted offers, agent’s confidence in the strength of the market took another dive in December, with MAR’s Realtor Market Confidence Index dropping 5 percent compared to the same time last year, to 50 from 52.63 in December 2013. Realtors were worried about prices continuing their rise, with the Realtor Price Confidence Index slipping 4 percent to 70.25 in December compared with 75.39 in December 2013.

This is the fourteenth-straight month that the confidence index has declined, and the ninth-straight month that the price index has declined. However, the market index returned to the halfway point, and the price index bounced back up about 70 after dipping below those markers in November. Index numbers greater than 50 indicate belief in strong market conditions.