Being hidden hasn't been all bad: The city was insulated from the housing bubble that struck others, and home prices remained affordable, luring many retirees.

Yet its housing market wasn't — and isn't — immune to the economic downturn.

"We were just behind the rest of the country," says Chuck Olson, president of Las Cruces Association of Realtors. "In August 2007, it was like someone reached over and turned the light switch off."

Even without being part of the bubble, home sales suddenly started dropping. Last year, they fell 30% lower than in 2007, and they continued to tumble during the first half of 2009.

Things are looking up, though. Sales stabilized and are climbing. In September, they were 14.7% higher than the same month in 2008. The median price is still lower than it was a year ago, but not everyone is able to take advantage of the cheaper prices.

"In order to buy a home, most of our people need access to inexpensive money and easy credit," Olson says. "When that dried up, it caused our housing market to screech to a halt."

Las Cruces has not been hit as hard by the national recession as other parts of the country. But it has felt some pain, and it will be a bit slow to recover, says Jim Peach, professor of economics at New Mexico State University.

"It's the first time in almost 20 years that we have lost employment," he says. "But we keep chugging along."

In Las Cruces, the unemployment rate was 6.9% in September, less than New Mexico's rate of 7.7% and the national rate of 9.8%.

Its major employers are New Mexico State University, the local public school system and White Sands Missile Range. And the area is building Spaceport America, which boasts being the world's first spaceport.

Because the Las Cruces housing market generally has been stable and predictable, it has never had a big run-up in home prices like California and Nevada. "We also never saw a huge amount of speculation and mortgage fraud that was going on across the country," Olson says. And home foreclosures have not skyrocketed.

The first-time home-buyer tax credit helped Las Cruces a little, but mortgages are still tough to obtain.

"The upper end of the market is dead," Olson says. "So far this year, there have been about 10 houses sold for above $400,000. The reason is that mortgages are nearly unobtainable. Without absolutely sparkling credit, you're in trouble."