A lot of that is really the change in sales structure from lower-priced to relatively higher-priced houses, at the lower end, and to lower-priced houses at the high end. (Surely nobody thinks that 92029 really did appreciate 37% in the last year!)
My own house price index calculations show strong growth near Camp Pendleton (92054, 92057, 92084 all up 6%+ YoY), Hillcrest/North Park and areas further east such as City Heights are doing well. Three biggest losers are 92009, 91914, 92037, and even those suffered most of their losses in Q4 ’08 to Q1 ’09 (91914 is down less than 2% since Q1 ’09).