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From the December issue: For most of America, spending $44 million on a place to live is mind-boggling, especially in the midst of an economic downturn. So it’s a sign of just how rarified New York real estate is that July’s $44 million Duke Semans mansion sale is an indicator that the residential market, while recovering, is still a shadow of its former self. The sale — the priciest residential deal of 2010 — doesn’t measure up to the $53 million Harkness mansion sale in 2006, or Harry Macklowe’s epic $52 million combination of seven apartments at The Plaza in 2007. To get a sense of how the high-end market fared this year, The Real Deal compiled a list of the 50 priciest sales of 2010 so far, using closed sales data from real estate listings aggregator StreetEasy. [more]