For the sixth straight month, Massachusetts Realtors’ confidence in the market has gone up, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) January 2012 Realtor Market Index.

The Realtor Price Index (RPI) in January was down slightly from 2011. More than 90 percent of Realtors said they see the number of homes for sale staying the same or going up in 2012.

"There was a nice jump in Realtor confidence about the January housing market compared to the same time last year," said 2012 MAR President Trisha McCarthy, broker at Keller Williams Realty in Newburyport. "As long as we can continue to see increases each month, we have good reason to be optimistic about an eventual recovery."

In January, the Realtor Market Index (RMI) was up 51 percent from January 2011. The last time there was a stretch of six straight months of year-over-year increases was December 2009-May 2010.

Forty-six percent of Realtor members said inventory levels would increase (43 percent) or significantly increase (3 percent) in 2012. Forty-six percent reported that inventory would remain the same as it was in 2011, while 10 percent thought inventory would decrease (9 percent) or significantly-decrease (1 percent) in 2012.