Sixteen contracts were signed last week at $4 million and above, marking the fourth straight week that the total dipped below 20. The low tide included 11 condos, 3 townhouses, and 2 co-ops for a paltry $122,558,000 in volume. Summer doldrums or a trending weakness in the market? Time will tell.

The No. 1 contract was 16A at 551 West 21st Street, asking $17.5 million, reduced from $19.5 million when it went on the market in September immediately after closing for $16,905,700. This 4,271-square-foot unit has 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms with sweeping Hudson River views in a new High Line area condo designed by Foster + Partners, home of the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Sir Norman Foster. The 19-story, 44-unit building features a gated drive-in court surrounded by a green wall, and has a 34-foot-tall lobby with prismatic glass. Amenities include a concierge/doorman, garage, fitness center, and children’s playroom.

The No. 2 contract was a townhouse at 174 East 64th Street, asking $13.9 million, reduced from $15.5 million when it went on the market in April 2016. This 21-foot-wide house has 7,500 square feet, and is configured as offices on the ground floor that open onto a garden with the living space on the four floors above. The house has 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 3 powder rooms, 8 fireplaces, central air, and an elevator.

LIEN ON ME The largest residential foreclosure in the history of Manhattan, the 79th floor at 157 West 57th Street, was halted last week. The 6,240-square-foot unit is owned by an offshore LLC linked to Nigerian energy mogul Kola Aluko, who paid $50.9 million in 2014, financed by a $35-million mortgage from Banque Havilland in Luxeumbourg. The foreclosure is part of money-laundering investigations in Nigeria and Europe. The U.S. Justice Department Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative also slapped a $144 million lien on the condo and on an $80-million yacht called the Galactica Star; it is seeking proceeds in excess of the mortgage. Finally, last week there was an $83-million lawsuit filed in Florida by an Ivory Coast supplier of gasoline and jet fuel. Other Aluko’s assets listed in various court papers include a condo at 1049 Fifth, three private jets, 58 cars, and luxury real estate in Los Angeles, London, Dubai, Switzerland, Canada, and Nigeria. No can seem to find Aluko as the transponder on his 213-foot yacht has gone silent, and was reportedly last seen in the Bahamas in May.