The housing market, like the stock market, loves to tempt us with false hopes. The recent performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average might mean that its sickening slide over most of the past year is over, with happier days ahead. Or it could be nothing more than a brief deviation — a “dead-cat bounce,” in Wall Street parlance.

Similarly, there may be great significance to the contrast between February, when we published a sort of Anti-Headline Homes because there were no truly headline-worthy sales, and March, which saw a dramatic rise in the number of high-end homes selling for $1.3 million or more.

Maybe the housing slump is ending, at the high end of the market, and maybe the good news will trickle down to the rest of the market. Or maybe the sales increase is purely due to seasonal factors. Or maybe it’s a total aberration, and more misery awaits us. Only time will tell.

Largest single-family home transactions recorded in Davidson and neighboring counties in March 2009, ranked by dollar value:

1. 55 Governors Way, Brentwood, 37027

Buyer: Aaron Cicchelli

Sale price: $5 million

Sellers: Jennifer & Roger Brown

Sellers’ agent: Bill E. Henson Jr. (Silverpointe Properties)

Buyer’s agent: Bill E. Henson Jr. (Silverpointe Properties)

What a bargain! Cicchelli, who is unmarried, gets this 20,000-square-foot Governor’s Club palais for $2.9 million less than the list price that was on it in May 2008. The structure includes a bowling alley, a cinema, an indoor basketball court, an outdoor “oasis” equipped with a full Viking/Sub-Zero kitchen and a garage built to fit a tour bus.

Someone named Aaron Cicchelli is listed as the contact person for D2legit.com, a Web site that sells items related to the computer game Diablo 2. Seller Roger Brown came to Nashville a few years ago with Centrum Properties, a major Chicago real estate investment firm.

2. 311 Granny White Pike, Brentwood, 37027

Buyers: John L. & Elizabeth Y. Friga, AKA Jonathan & Elizabeth Cain, as trustees of the Cain Revocable Trust

Sale price: $1.66 million

Sellers: Samuel Harve Carbine and Ashley Nicole Carbine, heirs of Denzel H. Carbine

Sellers’ agent: David Binkley (Silverpointe Properties)

Buyers’ agent: Abby Norman (Keller Williams Realty)

You know that piano bit at the beginning of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” that you can’t quite get out of your brain, especially since the final episode of The Sopranos? That’s Jonathan Cain. He has been the keyboardist and a principal songwriter with the arena-rocking band for most of its history.

The Cains signed loan documents related to this transaction in Marin County, Calif. Whether they plan to make Nashville their primary home is unknown.

3. 4416 Sunnybrook Drive, 37205

Buyers: Byron S. & Sherri K. Middendorf

Sale price: $1.53 million

Builder/seller: Nashville Property Managers LLP

Seller’s agent: Emily Rosen (Worth Properties)

Buyers’ agent: None of record

Byron Middendorf is co-founder and CEO of Madison-based Equinox Information Systems, which provides software to telecommunications companies.

Brian Krebs is listed as managing partner of Nashville Property Managers.

4. 414 Sunnyside Drive, 37205

Buyers: Robert Kevin & Rebecca Jones Taylor

Sale price: $1.51 million

Seller: Lori D. Halloran

Seller’s agent: Sheila Lambos Reuther (Fridrich & Clark Realty)

Buyers’ agent: Steven Myers (Keller Williams Realty)

This 5,800-square-foot Belle Meade home has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and two half baths. It moved after 38 days on the market at an initial listing price of $1.699 million.

5. 970 Overton Lea Road, 37220

Buyers: Bradford C. and Yuliya I. Gulmi

Sale price: $1.425 million

Sellers: Victor S. Johnson III and Christine Tyler, heirs of Nancy M. and Victor S. Johnson Jr.

Sellers’ agent: Sidney McAlister (BrokerSouth Real Estate Partners)

Buyers’ agent: Tom Patterson (French Christianson Patterson)

Davidson County District Attorney General Torry Johnson and his sister lost both of their parents last year — former Aladdin Industries CEO Victor Johnson in January and Nancy Johnson in December. The heirs have sold the old home place, a sprawling contemporary mansion on more than four acres in deepest Oak Hill, to entrepreneur Brad Gulmi (founder of medical supply company Diabetes Care Club) and his wife Yuliya.

6. 3817 Trimble Road, 37215

Buyers: Jason R. Padgett & Jordan E. McLain

Sale price: $1.41 million

Sellers: Joseph & Shannon Agee

Sellers’ agent: Steve G. Fridrich (Fridrich & Clark Realty)

Buyers’ agent: Sean Simons (Zeitlin & Co. Realtors)

The Agees put their Green Hills home on the market September 2, 2008 and sold it for 21 percent less than they initially asked for — a result that seemingly could have been even worse, given the economic environment.

7. 844 Windstone Blvd., Brentwood, 37027

Buyers: Lawrence J. & Brenda Gatta

Sale price: $1.36 million

Builder/seller: Mike Ford Custom Builders LLC

Seller’s agent: Mary Sue Dietrich (Worth Properties)

Buyers’ agent: Kevin Pellatiro (Keller Williams Realty)

8. 344 White Swan’s Crossing, 37215

Buyer: Jennifer H. Brown

Sale price: $1.23 million

Seller: Suntrust Mortgage Inc.

Seller’s agent: Cindy Stanton Fey (Crye-Leike Realtors)

Buyer’s agent: Bill E. Henson Jr. (Silverpointe Properties)

A previous owner of this 10,800-square-foot home, Charlotte Coles Goldston, stated in an August 2007 bankruptcy filing that it had a fair market value of at least $5 million. SunTrust was owed $3.4 million at the time. The lender paid $2 million to buy it out of foreclosure last July (placing it at No. 5 on that month’s “Headline Homes” list). Now it has sold for $1.23 million. SunTrust gets a serious haircut.

9. 4412 Warner Place, 37205

Buyers: Marv W. & Tasha S. Green

Sale price: $1.2 million

Seller: Donna Freeman Kelley

Seller’s agent: Hal Rosson & Brenda S. Freeman (Freeman Webb Co.)

Buyers’ agent: Kimberly A. Davis (Keller Williams Realty)

10. 900 20th Ave. S., 37212 (unit 1703, The Adelicia)

Buyer: John J. Connors III

Sale price: $1.199 million

Seller: Adelicia Development LLC

Agents: None of record