Are Natural Amenities a Safety Net Against Value Loss?

There's an interesting post on Lansner on Real Estate today reporting Orange County's beach communities are suffering least from the current housing slump.

In an earlier post I discussed research which indicates markets with natural amenities (good weather, water, mountains) have better long term growth records than markets which lack these amenities (too hot/cold/humid, dry, flat). Orange County's beach communities are at the top of the scale when it comes to weather and water, and maybe the data referred to in Lansner's post indicate amenities mitigate against value loss in a down market. A broader study would have to adjust for the fact that many high amenity communities have more second homes and rental vacation properties, which probably have their own dynamic.