so the increase in prices hasn't been related to "everyone wants to live here because....". And given the number of people leaving the Bay Area (and CA, too), it's certainly not true eveyone wants to live here at any price.

Prices haven't increased because of job or population growth, because the Bay Area has yet to recover from 2001, and population growth is basically negative or flat.

Oakland will get some major decreases, but not as bad as Brentwood, Antioch, Mountain House, etc. Some initial evidence for this - Notices of Defaults are way higher for Alameda county vs last year, but are up even higher for Contra Costa county.

But, yes, if you can pay your mortage, plan on staying put for a long time, and don't rely on your home's value going up (e.g. for cash-out refi, like many people have been doing), sure, a housing crash makes no difference.

--Tony