Not accounting for inflation, it's not hard to believe:
Median Home Values: Unadjusted
2000 1990 1980 1970 1960 1950 1940
California $211,500 $195,500 $84,500 $23,100 $15,100 $9,564 $3,527
The median alone is almost two orders of magnitude greater as of 2000, let alone 2016. I'm sure there is at least one bay-area home that has been untouched for 50 or 60 years that is now selling for well over a million.
You realize that somebody who bought in 1940 or earlier is over 100 years old now, right? (assuming becoming a homeowner at age 25). Not a significant demographic.
Beyond that, those numbers are fudged and do not reflect the changing value of the dollar. $3,537 in 1940 is $59,711 in 2015 dollars[0] (or $43,382 in 2000 dollars[0]), so your "two orders of magnitude" claim falls to a mere factor of less than 5 times, or < 5% of the "two orders of magnitude" claim.
And again, that isn't even a level comparison given that housing construction costs are far higher (well beyond the rate of inflation) due to more features, stricter building codes, modern appliances, permits, ...
From: https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/historic/valu...