Maybe the toughest job in today's real estate market is selling monster luxury homes, many of which were built only because of the financing bubble and people scoring mortgages they didn't deserve to buy houses they couldn't afford. Many million-dollar homes are in bankers' inventories, having been foreclosed upon. They're big white elephants -- expensive to keep up and in saleable condition, but difficult to sell.

But the latest metro-Baltimore sales numbers show that million-dollar homes are participating in the jump in activity that the rest of the market is seeing. Sixteen metro-Baltimore homes priced $1 million or more sold in October, according to MRIS. Seven sold in September, 22 in August and 13 in July. There were 695 million-dollar-plus houses for sale in metro Baltimore last month. That's down from 786 in May and the lowest level since January, when fewer people are trying to sell houses, anyway.

Few if any people buying these things qualify for the first-time home buyer tax credit. (Only people with relatively modest incomes qualify.) But my colleague Jamie Smith Hopkins says there could be a tax-credit knock-on effect boosting the luxury market. The credit probably helped some trade-up buyers sell their modest ranchers or Colonials so they could move into their dream mansions.