If you want to own a house in the Bay Area, the best time to buy is during one of the periodic recessions; but it'll be harder to get a relocation package to move to the Bay Area during a recession.
With lower house prices, you also need a lower percentage down. My credit union says you can do 3% down on up to $625k of loan. 3% down may not be the best idea, but waiting until you have 20% down can be a lot of waiting if you'd like to buy a house here. Putting a small amount down, means you do have to pay mortgage insurance (which wasn't very expensive in 2009 when I put 10% down), but it gives you a lot of flexibility.
If the recession deepens, and you lose your job and the housing market tanks, you can stop paying your mortgage, foreclosure is slower than eviction for not paying rent, and most California foreclosures are nonjudicial where the lender can take the house, but has no claim against any of your other assets. If you resume employment during the foreclosure process, you may be able to cure the default.
If you stay employed, you will hopefully at least get cost of living raises, while everyone else's housing costs are going up, yours will be flat -- you can put some of the raises into paying down your mortgage to get a more comfortable equity situation (and get the mortgage insurance removed). When the economy starts to recover and bring housing prices with it, you'll get some equity that way too.