Realtor members are less confident about the market in May than a month earlier, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) most recent Realtor Market Index.

The May Realtor Price Index (RPI) was down from April, but was up slightly from the same time last year. While interest rates remain low, Realtors anticipate rates heading up over the next 12 months.

"We continue to see buyers in the market who are looking, but holding off on making serious offers," said 2011 MAR President Laurie Cadigan, broker/owner of Barrett & Co. in Concord. "For the time being interest rates continue to decline and hopefully qualified buyers will take advantage of that trend to get into a home that is right for them."

In May 2011, the Realtor Market Index was 28, down from the April 2011 score of 30.28. This is the second straight month-to-month decrease. On an annual basis, the May RMI was down from the 39.49 score in May 2010. This is the 12th straight month that the year-over-year RMI has gone down. 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.

In May 2011, the Realtor Price Index was 38.89, which is down from the April 2011 RPI of 48.64. On an annual basis, the RPI was up from the May 2010 RPI of 38.38. This is the first year-over-year increase since June 2010.

When Realtor members were asked about what they thought was going to happen with interest rates in the next 12 months, 67 percent responded that rates would either increase significantly (1 percent) or increase slightly (66 percent). Thirty-six percent thought interest rates would stay the same and 4 percent thought interest rates would drop slightly. None of the respondents thought interest rates would drop significantly in the next 12 months.