The foreclosure rate in Manteca-Lathrop — once among the nation’s worst — is now just a quarter of the national average.

 Data on June 17 showed of the 29,926 single family homes within the Manteca Unified School District that includes Manteca, Lathrop, southwest Stockton and parts of the county there were 81 units owned by banks.

That’s a foreclosure rate of 0.27 percent compared to the national average of 1.04 percent. On Sept. 14, 2012 there were 29,005 single family homes with 135 or 0.47 percent owned by the bank. The normal foreclosure rate nationally in good economic times is just below 1 percent. Manteca-Lathrop during past economic upswings rarely had any foreclosures as distressed homeowners could easily sell due to the demand for housing generated by Bay Area pressures.

The data compiled from court filings is part of a study of the economic strength of the Manteca Unified School District performed by Stifel as part of the underwriting process for $150 million in Measure M school bonds. It is one of the reasons why there were three times as many investors than needed clamoring for the first batch of bonds that were sold this summer.

In the past three years the snapshot shows foreclosures in:

uManteca 95336 is down to 24 from 33.

uManteca 95337 is down to 16 from 19.

uLathrop is down to 21 from 44.

*Weston Ranch is down to 20 from 34.

uFrench Camp is down to 0 from 2.

uunincorporated county areas is down to 0 from 3.

When those figures are compared to May 15, 2011 when 194 homes in Manteca went all the way through the repossession process and into bank ownership, there has been nearly an 80 percent drop in foreclosures.

The fact the Northern San Joaquin Valley has rebounded  stronger than many part of the country is in line with predictions made by economists in 2007 when the region started slipping into a deep home price dive as the mortgage crisis cooled the Silicon Valley economy that exerts a sizeable influence on communities near the west side of the Altamont.

Now that the Silicon Valley and the rest of the Bay Area has rebounded and is enjoying economic growth that has sent housing prices soaring, more people are heading east in order to afford a home.

As in past boom periods, they are buying as close to the Altamont as possible. That has allowed numerous homeowners in Mountain House and Tracy to sell and move farther east.

Susan Dell’Osso of River Islands at Lathrop reports 52 percent for the homes in the planned community are being bought by those who sold their homes in Mountain House.

Toni Raymus of Raymus Homes that offers the Raceway Collection in south Manteca has noted a large number of buyers are from Tracy.

The strength of the housing rebound is reflected in the median escrow price of homes sold in Manteca in August that reached $319,500, according to Trulia.

In the past five years homes have gone from a median of $103 per square foot to $177.