Forbes counts Albany among America's 25 strongest housing markets

Forbes Magazine is counting Albany as one of the top 25 strongest housing markets in America.

The magazine looked at metro areas with populations over 500,000 to find those closest to recovery, using data from economic firm Moody's.

Moody's prepared forecasts through 2011 and compared them to prices in the second quarter of 2008 to calculate how far prices will likely fall before reaching bottom.

The percent figures are price drops between second quarter 2008 and the projected bottom. The forecast price change to bottom for Albany is -3%, and the bottom is expected in late 2010.

"The strongest metro areas will be flat at best -- but that's better than the 15% drop Moody's expects on average in the U.S.," according to the magazine.

Because Albany did not see the same buying frenzy that overtook the rest of the country during the housing boom, it's managed to remain relatively stable. "Housing markets in upstate New York never had the ups and downs of some hot markets in the rest of the country," the magazine noted. "Prices should remain steady this year [in Albany]."

Forbes: "America's 25 strongest housing markets"