Realtor’s confidence in the strength of the housing market dipped in December, with the Massachusetts Association of Realtors’ (MAR) December Realtor Market Confidence Index (RMCI) down for the second straight month.

However, this had no impact on the December Realtor Price Confidence Index (RPCI) which was again up compared to the same month in 2012.

"The real estate market was good in 2013 as it continued to edge toward recovery, but the lack of homes for sale and concerns about interest rates going up caused Realtor confidence to decline in the last two months," Peter Ruffini, MAR’s 2014 President and a regional vice president at Jack Conway & Co., said in a statement. "However, price increases have helped put equity back into homes, leaving more homeowners in a position to sell and that should help increase inventory and confidence in the market going forward."

In December 2013, the confidence index was 52.63, which was down eight percent from the December 2012 score of 57.47. This is the second straight month that the RMCI has gone down. On a month-to-month basis, the December RMCI was down seven percent from the 56.8 score in November 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 was 75.39 in December, up four percent from the December 2012 RPCI of 72.71. This is the 23rd straight month of year-over-year increases and the 10th straight month over the 70-point mark. On a month-to-month basis, the RPCI was up seven percent from the November 2013 RPCI of 70.6.

For the year, the average Realtor Market Confidence Index number was 68.78, which was up 29 percent from the average 2012 RMCI of 53.48. The average Realtor Price Confidence Index was 74.67, which was up 21 percent from the 2012 RPCI of 61.95.

The continuing inventory drought was also at the top of Realtor’s minds, with many naming it as the most significant trend of the 2013 market. MAR had asked its members to provide the best word or phrase to describe the Massachusetts real estate market in 2013. According to respondents the top three choices were:

"2013 was the year of ________"

1. No inventory (23 percent)

2. Sellers staying on the sideline (16 percent); and

3. Return of home equity (nine percent)

The remaining responses were spread across 10 additional choices.