Economically, Albuquerque (and New Mexico) continue to do far better than the nation as a whole.

• June’s national unemployment rate was 5.5%
• New Mexico’s rate was 3.9%
• Albuquerque’s rate was 4.0%

Housing, of course, remains a huge problem around the country and foreclosures are a big part of the reason. Here again, we are in far better shape than most. I don’t have a break out specifically for Albuquerque, but New Mexico continues to rank near the bottom.

• In the second quarter, U.S. filings were up almost 121% over the second quarter of 2007 with 739,714 filings.
• In contrast, New Mexico had 1,150 filings state wide. That is a 60% increase over the same quarter in 2007 — but a 2.7% decrease from the first quarter of this year.
• The states with the highest foreclosure rates: Nevada, California and Arizona all showed increases over the first quarter of this year.