In New York, a Falling Market for Trophy Homes in the Sky

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At 432 Park Avenue, the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere, full-floor apartments originally listed for $78 million to $85 million have been split in two and priced at approximately $40 million each.

In and around West 57th Street, known as Billionaires' Row, "it's not just slow -- it's come to a complete halt," said Dolly Lenz, a broker to the superrich. She attributed the lack of activity along the Midtown corridor to oversupply, little differentiation among glassy ultraluxury units and peak pricing. "That's a death knell," she said.

New York is not alone. After the global financial crisis hit in 2008, investors turned to high-end real estate around the world as a safe place to park their millions. But since the middle of 2014, prime property values have dropped in Paris, Singapore, London, Moscow and Dubai, said Yolande Barnes, director of world research at Savills, a global real estate firm. "These cities have acted as a store of wealth," said Ms. Barnes, who sees the current decline in values as "an inevitable setback that you get after a long bull run."

Though the market still has a long way to go before fire-sale pricing sets in, the declines may indicate that a ceiling has been reached. And even as sales over $10 million drop off in Manhattan, the bulk of the market remains robust, with competition particularly heated for homes priced for less than $3 million.