From California Association of Realtors:
Statewide, the 10 cities with the highest median home prices in California during September 2009 were: Manhattan Beach, $1,502,000; Burlingame, $1,401,100; Saratoga, $1,297,500; Los Altos $1,275,000; Palos Verdes Estates, $1,163,500; Calabasas, $1,073,500; Newport Beach, $1,050,000; Los Gatos, $1,050,000; Santa Monica, $1,025,000; Cupertino, $950,000; and Rancho Palos Verdes, $912,500.
Statewide, the cities with the greatest median home price increases in September 2009 compared with the same period a year ago were: San Juan Capistrano, 40.2 percent; San Rafael, 30.5 percent; Moorpark, 29.8 percent; Thousand Oaks, 20.7 percent; Calabasas, 19.3 percent; Lake Forest, 17.7 percent; Walnut, 13.6 percent; El Cajon, 13.5 percent; Tustin, 13.1 percent; and Big Bear Lake, 12.1 percent.
What is interesting is that 4 of the 10 cities with the highest median prices are in Santa Clara County BUT none of the cities with the greatest median price increases is local. So we can infer that if we live in a high priced neighborhood then our prices are stable. Or if you are a "the glass is half empty" type of person, you can say that if we live in a high priced area then our homes are not appreciating......!
I must point out also that the local towns named above do not have a sold inventory of low-priced properties that will impact the median price such as we would see in east or south San Jose.