It's funny how late the news is to the game. Just yesterday the news says that the June 2013 median price in SoCal compared to the June 2012 median price in SoCal was the biggest gain since a long time ago.
They are pretty late reporting that since the June 2013 closings mostly went under contract in April back when the prices started to level out and inventory started rising.
News says: "Record price increases amid plummeting inventory in June 2013"
Reality is: "Prices leveled off amid rising inventory in June 2013"