Back on the market.

It looks like Billy Maklowe and wife Julie will not be getting a new home for the holidays. At least not at 950 Fifth Avenue. While the New York Post reported that real estate scion (son of Harry) was in contract to buy a 12-room co-op there this November, it looks like the deal has fallen apart.

At least a deal has fallen apart. The paper trail shows that the sprawling duplex, which first hit the market in July with Stribling brokers Cindy Kurtin and Jessica Vertullo Maher, went into contract in October. Only to re-emerge, back on the market, at the very end of November. Whether or not the rebuffed or regretful potential buyer was Mr. Macklowe, who helms William Macklowe Company, remains a mystery. Ms. Kurtin gave The Observer a "no comment" when we reached her on the phone.

What happened to Billy Macklowe's rumored contract?

The apartment was then, and is now, asking $27.5 million. Mr. Macklowe, according to the Post, was in contract for something below that. Could the building's board have nixed what it felt to be too low of a price?

As we noted before, the grand apartment would seem an ideal home base for a business mogul. Mr. Macklowe has been making more and more of a name for himself and a $27 million apartment on Fifth Avenue is a way to announce that one has arrived.

Besides, sister Elizabeth Macklowe lives a hop, skip and a jump away at 740 Park (At least for now. Ms. Macklowe and estranged husband Kent Swig’s apartment is said to be in the midst of foreclosure proceedings.)

Maybe the place was too grand? There's fancy and then there's fancy. This duplex is fancy, with wood burning fireplaces galore, parquet de Versailles floors, 11-foot ceilings, a windowed eat-in kitchen and park views. The banister to the second floor? Hand-crafted wrought iron and gilt.

kvelsey@observer.com

A personal real estate investment.

What better way to pass these strange, disordered days after Hurricane Sandy than by inking the contract for a $27.5 million apartment on the Upper East Side? Harry Macklowe's son, budding real estate dynamo Billy Macklowe, certainly thought so, at least according to The New York Post. The Post reports that Mr. Macklowe signed an under-ask contract for a four-bedroom, 5.5-bath co-op apartment at 950 Fifth Avenue.

Mr. Macklowe, who first stepped out of his father's real estate shadow with a 636 Avenue of the Americas buy last November, has apparently decided it's time to acquire a new home more suited to his growing reputation in the real estate world. The duplex apartment spanning the fifth and sixth floors certainly (and perhaps more than) fits the bill. A sprawling prewar pad overlooking Central Park with parquet de Versailles floors, lots of wood-burning fireplaces (in case the next hurricane hits the Upper East Side) and plenty of built-ins and custom cabinetry, the co-op is listed with Stribling brokers Cindy Kurtin and Jessica Vertullo Maher.

But is it as nice as sis Elizabeth Macklowe's co-op at 740 Park? Ms. Macklowe and estranged husband Kent Swig's home was, last we heard, in the midst of foreclosure proceedings, but it's hard to beat a spread in the fanciest building in the city. Perhaps Mr. Macklowe's purchase was inspired by a little sibling rivalry. Or a brave show of support for the city as it grapples with rebuilding in the days ahead?

kvelsey@observer.com

It's only $29 million.

It seems that all the money flowing through Manhattan's luxury market these days is encouraging owners of extravagant abodes to try and cash in. After all, buyers keep signing decadent deed after decadent deed, even with the dog days of summer approaching.

Today, three properties hit the market in the $20 million to $29 million range. Which, after the recent debut of a $50 million listing at the Ritz-Carlton and the impending debut of Walker Tower's $50 million penthouse listing, seems almost modest. And, according to The New York Times, we should all brace ourselves for the arrival of some more listings in the $90 million range in the near future.

950 Fifth would like $27.5 million.

As Shaun Osher, the chief executive of CORE told The Times: “A lot of high-end buyers and sellers want to get on the gilded bandwagon.”

Well, hop on! The most expensive listing of the day is a six-bedroom duplex penthouse at 1125 Park Avenue that is asking $29 million. A combined unit made from apartments 15 and 16A, the co-op boasts some 6,000 square feet. Apparently, after an extensive renovation to combine the two units, the owners decided that they no longer wanted "the ultimate Park Avenue penthouse," as the listing held by Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Sabrina Saltiel boasts.

So what does $29 million get you these days? A master bedroom that is "a private sanctuary" with wood burning fireplace, own sitting room, marble bath, mahogany-lined double dressing room, walk-in closet and our favorite amenity of all: "endless hidden storage." It must be so hidden that no one can find it! Also, there's a large paneled laundry room (drywall in the laundry room is so low-end).

Next up is duplex 5/6 at 950 Fifth Avenue, which is asking a staggering $27.5 million (5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths). Listed with Stribling brokers Cindy Kurtin and Jessica Vertullo-Maher, the co-op has a library with built-ins, a fireplace and a dry bar and a south-facing dining room with travertine floors.

If course, not everyone loves a co-op, and the third listing of the day—a former carriage house at 184 East 64th Street—offers  more than just two floors. At $20 million, it's something of a fixer-upper that's currently divided into two condos.  But not to worry, those units "can be combined seamlessly to create a magnificent home or embassy," the listing gushes. The house is being co-brokered by  held by Corcoran's Robb Saar and Peter Ashe's Asher Alcobi and Meirav Gavrielov.

Like the other places, the buyer will get antique paneling, wood-burning fireplaces, pre war splendor, etc. And, if someone does convert it to a single-family, the carriage house will no doubt be asking $40 or $50 million the next time it hits the market.

Will these properties get their lofty asks? Only the future can say for sure, it isn't only fashionable to sell high-end apartments at the moment, but to ask unheard of highs for them

As Jonathan Miller, the president of Miller Samuel real estate appraisal firm told The Times , the term for listings based on loose associations to reality is P.F.A., a.k.a. pulled from the air: “Take the highest sale you can find and apply some methodology in a very subjective way to talk yourself up to this bigger number.”

kvelsey@observer.com

Mr. Hurst's wife, Soledad, did not appear on the deed. Listed by Brown Harris Stevens' Cathy Franklin, the 12-room duplex with sweeping views of Central Park was purchased by the appropriately titled, Park View Trust with a Harvey L. Armstrong listed as trustee.

cmalle@observer.com