The rise of the $20 million-plus listing

From the July issue: Between the lion’s head doorknocker, ornate stone fireplaces and pastel-colored parlor, the mansion at 973 Fifth Avenue looks like something out of an Edith Wharton novel. But its $42 million contract price, reported late last month after the home spent a year on the market with Brown Harris Stevens’s Paula Del Nunzio, is decidedly contemporary.

The deal is the latest in a string of eye-popping sales in the last quarter that, some brokers say, has prompted sellers at the high end to test their luck with listings priced above $20 million — whether the properties are worth it or not. [more]