A continuing glut of foreclosed homes on the market joined forces with the $8,000 first-time home-buyer tax credit to push Twin Cities home sales up and prices down last month.

Signed purchase agreements were up 34.4 percent from the same month a year earlier, and the number of closed sales was up 27.8 percent, area Realtor associations said Wednesday. But the average selling price of a house was $169,000, down from $180,000 in October 2008.

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