MANATEE -- A quarter of all Manatee County homes sold in 2010 either was bank-owned or in foreclosure proceedings, little-changed from the previous year, data released today show.

But those properties sold for slightly more, a possible sign that the foreclosure albatross could be easing off the local housing market’s back.

In-foreclosure and bank-owned properties comprised 24.8 percent of all Manatee home sales last year, RealtyTrac said in its latest quarterly report released today. That is statistically unchanged from the previous year’s 24.9 percent, the Irvine, Calif.-based foreclosure tracking service said.

There was more movement in pricing, as the average sales price of such properties rose by more than $3,800 to $161,955 last year, the company said. Foreclosures sold for roughly 16 percent less than similar homes not in foreclosure last year, compared to nearly 21 percent in 2009.

Prices rose as cash investors competed for fewer foreclosures, primarily a result of moratoriums and slowdowns enacted by lenders because of documentation problems, RealtyTrac said. That led to an “abnormal slowdown” in U.S. foreclosure sales in the fourth quarter, which hit the lowest point since early 2008, a company spokesman said.

“Lenders have begun limiting supply ... and there is relatively good demand from buyers, especially for heavily discounted foreclosure properties,” Daren Blomquist wrote in an e-mail.

In Florida, 36 percent of 2010 sales were foreclosures -- the fourth-highest rate in the nation, which averaged 26 percent, RealtyTrac said. Only Nevada, Arizona and California had a higher percentage of foreclosure sales.

But those four states, among the hardest-hit by the housing slump, saw improvement over their year-ago numbers. Those markets “were the first to hit a saturation point in terms of foreclosure sales, and lenders are now releasing their foreclosed properties on the market at a more measured pace so as not to flood the market,” Blomquist said.

Local real estate agents say those trends have continued so far in 2011.

Realtors sold 134 bank-owned properties in January and had just 227 others listed for sale Wednesday, said Stephan Scalera of RE/Max Alliance Group.

“It’s tough to call the bottom of the market or to say if the tide has turned, but January’s sales data is encouraging,” Scalera wrote in an e-mail. “Even with a small increase in price, buyer demand in January has signaled that REO (bank-owned) property is not only selling, but selling very well.”

So well that foreclosures account for a third of Manatee homes sold so far this year, said Nikki Smith, a foreclosure and short sales specialist with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Bradenton.

However, the price gap between foreclosures and non-foreclosures appears to be widening and signals continued sluggishness in the overall market, she said.

“The shadow inventory is still growing and I believe we have another five, six years in a distressed housing market,” Smith wrote in an e-mail. “But of course the answer to the question ‘How long till we see some normalcy’ is more complicated than this and depends on the state of the whole economy, job market, etc.”

An oversupply of foreclosures on the market and weak buyer demand is a “Catch-22” that likely will depress prices further, at least in the short term, RealtyTrac said.

Duane Marsteller, Herald staff writer, can be reached at 745-7080, ext. 2630.