New York City is fabulous. There has never been any doubt about that. It’s also one of the most sought-after places to call home, as evidenced by legendary real estate prices for some of the city’s prime spots. Curbed’s calculation of this year’s ten biggest real estate deals added up to a jaw-dropping $233,495,000 in sales with some bigwig names involved in many of those, including the Murdoch family (more than once), some movie stars, and a certain Facebook founder. Here’s the breakdown of the top ten:

In 2006, Updown Court, one of the largest and lavish private residences in the UK – about 20 or so miles outside of London – was spec-built and put on the market for £75,000,000 (about $145,000,000). Recently, the luxe residences were seized by the Irish government in a foreclosure proceeding after the property developer, Leslie Allen-Vercoe, failed to keep up the mortgage payments secured by the state – about £50,000,000, according to RealEstalker.

With an estimated wealth by Forbes of $3 billion, Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg can certainly afford some magnificent toys for himself, wife Kate Capshaw, and their kids. For Cannes, the directing icon was aboard his $200 million megayacht Seven Seas with fellow film figure Leonardo DiCaprio, but most recently, he has anchored down in Portofino aboard his luxurious toy. According to JamesList, Spielberg caused some commotion in the Italian Riviera harbor town when he arrived on his tender for some shopping.

Historic Nob Hill in San Francisco was once the go-to spot for tourists visiting the area but more recently, those tourists, business travelers, and conference guests have been heading more towards downtown or Fisherman’s Wharf. Following that trend, four Nob Hill neighborhood hotels are up for sale after seeing the exodus of business travelers from their area to accommodations closer to the Moscone Center.

With online marketplaces and shops so convenient and comprehensive, it’s easy to believe that U.S. web sales had increased by 12.6 percent in 2010 compared to 2009. With more people hitting their laptops than the mall at this rate, e-commerce is set to be soaring by 2015, according to independent research company Forrester Research. Bundle recently compiled a list of the cities that shop the most online and, despite fabulous shopping in these cities, the top three were Miami, New York, and San Francisco, in that order.

Hotel and casino magnate Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts recently acquired an ultra-rare set of antique Chinese vases to grace his newest resort in China’s gambling mecca of Macau. The company announced on Friday that they shelled out nearly $12.8 million for four of the stunning porcelain vases last Thursday, July 7, from a private collection at Christie’s International “Exceptional” Sale.

Polo has always been an illustrious sport and now, with waves of new wealth sweeping across China, the country has seen a proper uprising of the sport on their own turf. The inaugural Goldin Gold Cup polo match on Saturday, July 2 brought crowd of colorful hats, high fashion, and China’s nouveau riche to a well-manicured field in Northeast China in the outskirts of Tianjin, a city that is home to over 12 million people.

Bangkok has been named by renowned U.S. travel magazine Travel + Leisure as World’s Best City as part of their World’s Best 2011 Awards issue. This is the second year in a row that Bangkok has taken the prestigious title as based on the votes of thousands of Travel + Leisure readers.

Dubai has gained global attention with their recent onslaught of constructing incredible new structures and the esteemed emirate is about to add another accolade to the list by earning the distinction of having five of the world’s ten tallest residential towers. Most of these massive new projects will be spouting up in the gorgeous Dubai Marina area and are estimated to have a combined cost of $1.16 billion with estimated entrance on the market over the next two years, as the economic downturn slightly delayed the projects.