Massachusetts Realtors’ expectations for the commonwealth’s housing market did not improve in December compared to the same time last year. However, when looking at November, forecasts did improve, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors’ (MAR) December Realtor Market Index (RMI) and the Realtor Price Index (RPI).

The December month-to-month increase was only the second time in 2010 that both indexes were up at the same time compared to the month before, according to a statement.

In December, the RMI was 19.54, a 43 percent decrease from the 34.15 score recorded one year ago. On a month-to-month basis, the December RMI was up 5.26 percent from the November score of 18.56.

The RPI was down 7.2 percent in December compared to the same time last year. On a month-to-month basis, the December index number was up 6.61 percent from the Home Sales Price Index number in November of 44.74.

"Seeing these month-to-month gains is encouraging," said 2011 Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) President Laurie Cadigan, broker/owner of Concord’s Barrett & Co. "It gives an indication that Realtor members who are in the field helping clients buy and sell properties every day are feeling more positive about the market."

Cadigan added: "Last year at this time the tax credit had just been extended and that positive feeling definitely carried over into the market. We don’t have that factor this year."