Luck of the Draw

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.