Looked at from a ten-year perspective, you're clearly right. Even if prices declined 10 percent this year, they'd still be up a huge amount since the late 1990s.
Is there a difference between a "crash" and a gradual downturn? The media loves to call things "crashes," but it doesn't mean it's justified. I live in an area with extremely high-priced real estate. The market is not as robust as it was a year ago, but I would hardly describe it as disastrous.