Highland Park Hub of Housing Boom, According to CBS

Add CBS to the long list of media outlets who are keeping an eye on Highland Park's housing market.

The neighborhood was featured in a story--"Early signs of housing recovery in Los Angeles"--published Tuesday on CBS's website.

, the story quotes statistics on the surge of investors who purchased property in the neighborhood just after the new year.

According the CBS' report, 43-percent of the homes purchased in Highland Park in January were bought by investors.

"Bidding wars and house flippers are back," states the report, which goes on the speculate that, while investors artifically inflated home prices before the bubble burst, they are know playing a key role in regulating those prices.

The report also notes another consequence of flippers' rushing to Highland Park; home's that couldn't afford a stylish makeover by a flipper are now languishing on the market.

According to the real estate tracking website Trulia.com, the average sales price of a home between January and March of 2012 was $265,000--an increase of 7.1-percent over the previous quarter, but a 7.5-percent decrease compared to the same time period last year.

As we noted in our coverage of Times piece, we believe that Highland Park is actually experiencing a slow and steady housing recovery that started in 2010. Trulia's numbers indicate that January's burst of sales was a peak, surrounded by valleys on both sides.