Albuquerque is one of the brightest spots in the entire country these days, as far as real estate goes. With a low foreclosure rate, low unemployment, and only a 4.3 % average sales price depreciation overall for the entire Albuquerque Metro area for 2008, our statistics look pretty good compared to most of the country.

But there's even better news!

Some areas of Albuquerque actually saw real estate appreciation in 2008 over 2007!

Sounds incredible, maybe, but it's very true! Take a look at the graph below:

The average sales price of single family homes in certain areas of Albuquerque actually went up in 2008 compared with 2007, while a number of other areas at least avoided any significant decline in prices. Albuquerque's Southeast Heights and Downtown areas both posted quite respectable appreciation rates of 3.56% and 4.51% respectively. (Don't we all wish out stock portfolios had done as well!)

The green, irrigated valley areas of the North Valley and the West River Valley, home to numerous Albuquerque horse properties, posted gains of .15% and 5.21% respectively.

But the stunning surprise winning results have to be those for the Pajarito area! That region of Southwest Albuquerque showed a stellar 19.75% increase in average sales prices in 2008! Three cheers for Pajarito!

For most of us, 2008 was a year when we could thank our lucky stars if our investments, real estate or otherwise, just managed to nearly hold their own. Anyone whose portfolio at the end of 2008 was worth 95% of what it had been worth a year earlier probably felt pretty lucky. And results like that applied to much of the rest of Albuquerque's real estate. Both North Albuquerque Acres and the Fairgrounds area managed to post nearly even values compared with 2007, with average sales prices down under 1% each, while the NE Heights, Near North Valley, and Northwest Heights all saw sales averages down only about 2%. Other areas whose average home sales prices fell only about 5% or less included the Far Northeast Heights, Academy West, the Southwest Heights, and Paradise East.

All in all, pretty good 2008 real estate statistics for Albuquerque, New Mexico, and all of us who have invested in the Albuquerque real estate market, don't you agree? Shouldn't you be joining us?