The folks at Keller Williams have always dealt with their own fair share of upper-bracket listings. Now, the local franchise (Minneapolis, Wayzata and Edina) is going to promote its high-buck listings by creating its own luxury homes division aimed at listings priced at $750,000 and up. Agents who want that designation will have to get special training from the Institute for Luxury Home Training. And the listings will get special promotion through a nationwide website dedicated to upper-bracket houses.

Todd Butzer, KW's regional director for the north central region, says that having such a designation helps raise the profile of those listings through targeted marketing and networking.

Luxury Homes by Keller Williams joins luxury homes divisions operated by several other Twin Cities brokerages. It's a segment of the market that needs all the help it can get. There's at least a two-year supply of $1 million plus houses on the market these days, but it's also one of the few segments of the market that's seeing an increase in sales as of late.