BusinessWeek online has an article that weighs the pros and cons of buying property in a college town. Full of good analysis, the piece shows that, overall, college towns have recession-resistant housing markets and show a consistent rise in property value despite regional and national real estate downturns.
Sounds a lot like Cambridge to me, which brings me to my second point. Drawing broad conclusions about the "fate" of real estate from national statistics is a lamentable practice. It's flaw is that it fails to account for resilient pockets of robust real estate activity where demand remains high, foreclosure rates are low (or non-existent) and the marketplace is as active as ever.
I highly recommend the article. You can read it here