high end real estate

Not only did new-home sales plunge to a record low in July, the McMansion market saw no activity whatsoever -- for the second month in a row. An economist says the high-end market "is becoming nonexistent."

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has plunked down a cool $44 million for a hot Manhattan property -- the last remaining privately owned Fifth Avenue mansion. It's a townhouse boasting more than 19,000 square feet right across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.