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San Joaquin County existing home prices changed little in the past year as foreclosure and short-sale properties dominated the market.

The inventory of available homes has increased from about 1,600 in late 2009 to roughly 2,500 at the close of 2010, but that’s still a relatively low three-month supply at current sales rates, said Jerry Abbott, president and co-owner of Grupe Real Estate in Stockton.

“Nationally, we have about a 12-month supply of homes, so we’re well below the national average,” he said.

The latest Grupe-TrendGraphix sales figures, based on Multiple Listing Service data, show average existing home sales prices running between $180,000 and $190,000 for most of last year, before falling to $171,000 in December.

Looking ahead to the coming year, Abbott doesn’t expect that drop to signal a larger trend.

“Prices will be pretty much flat,” with perhaps some small ups and downs, he said.

There continues to be a large number of distressed properties with owners behind on their payments or banks having already taken possession.

However, Abbott noted, “We’re just not seeing those homes appear on the market for one reason or another.”

Ryan Sherman, a partner of Sherman Associates, in Lodi, agreed.

“We talk about it all the time. You know there are foreclosures out there that haven’t been let loose,” he said. “The banks are just slowly trickling these homes out.”

Current activity seems to be focused largely on short sales, in which the mortgage lender agrees to accept less than the full balance of the loan to avoid the time and expense of a foreclosure. Those often take longer to work out than traditional sales.

“Interest rates are low and inventories are low, and that should tell you it’s a seller’s market, but it’s not,” Sherman said.