One thing I don't see discussed in these articles is demand. Demand continues to be high in SoCal. Driven by population and the old reasons, weather, location etc. Demand my reduce the increase and not result in too drastic of a drop in values.
Bingo! The Washington D.C. area has 3% unemployment and is projected to be SHORT 220,000 houses by the year 2020. Prices won't be dropping. If telecommuting takes off and everyone can live wherever they want to do their job then big city housing (read TERRIBLE traffic) is in trouble.