One reason Albuquerque’s housing market has survived far better than others (so far) is that we are simply less expensive overall. The same type of housing that is over $500,000 in LA, for example, will cost about $200,000 or less here. So, subprime loans were not a critical tool for getting people into houses when prices went up.
Another reason is that getting out of a bad loan is far easier here. New Mexico does not allow pre-payment penalties so refinancing is far less expensive.
The result: far fewer foreclosures saturating the market.