Low inventory continued to plague the market in January, causing the Massachusetts Association of Realtors’ (MAR) monthly Realtor Market Confidence Index (RMCI) to drop for the third straight month. Still, market confidence picked up from December, ending a two-month streak of month-to-month decreases.

The RMCI in January was 59.8, down 8 percent from the January 2013 score of 65. This is the third straight month that the RMCI has gone down. However, on a month-to-month basis, the January RMCI was up 14 percent from the 52.63 score in December 2013. Measured on a 100-point scale, a score of 50 is the midpoint between a "strong" (100 points) and a "weak" (0 points) market condition.    

The Realtor Price Confidence Index (RPCI) continued its streak of positive months, up again compared with the same month in 2013 as well as December 2013. The RPCI was 76.96 in January, up two percent from the January 2013 RPCI of 75.78. This is the 24th straight month of year-over-year increases and the 11th straight month over the 70-point mark. On a month-to-month basis, the RPCI was up two percent from the December 2013 RPCI of 75.39.

"Low inventory has Realtor confidence about prices remaining positive, while confidence about the market stayed somewhat down in January," 2014 MAR President Peter Ruffini, regional vice president at Jack Conway & Co., said in a statement.

Realtors were also asked if they, or someone in their office, had been involved with a sale that was impacted by the theft of metals (e.g. copper pipe, wiring or other valuable metals) in MAR’s "Hot Topic" question. Of those who answered yes, 37 percent responded that the transaction closed, but there was a serious impact. Thirty percent responded that the transaction closed, but there was minimal impact. Eleven percent reported that the sale completely fell apart, with 22 percent of Realtors responding that their buyers decided not to make an offer because of the theft.