Donahue Shows, Sells
His Connecticut Home

Former talk-show host Phil Donahue and his wife, actress Marlo Thomas, have agreed to sell their Westport, Conn., house for close to its $25 million asking price. A buyer was not named. The wood and stucco Tudor, built in 1911, sits on 7.7 acres with nine bedrooms and nine bathrooms and measures 7,379 square feet. The couple -- Mr. Donahue is 69 and Ms. Thomas 67 -- bought the house and part of the property in 1986. The amount they paid for that parcel couldn't be determined. Two years later, the couple spent about $6.8 million on an additional 7.2 acres, property records show, although it's not clear that all of this acreage is part of the current deal. Neighbors include movie producer Harvey Weinstein and radio personality Don Imus. Victoria Fingelly, of Nicholas H. Fingelly Real Estate in Southport, Conn., had the listing.

If the contract goes through, the sale of the 17-room estate would be among the priciest in the area. A property in nearby Greenwich, called Conyers Farm, sold last year for $45 million, thought to be the highest price paid for a home in the state. Also in Fairfield County, the town of New Canaan earlier this year purchased the 34-acre estate of Lucy Watson Irwin -- a daughter of former IBM head Thomas Watson Jr. -- for $20 million.

The county's average income is among the highest in the U.S. In towns such as New Canaan, Westport and Darien, the number of single-family homes sold fell slightly during the first six months of this year, from the 2004 period. But average home prices in those towns continued to show gains, ranging from 3.8% to 15%, from a year earlier, according to figures released by the Connecticut Association of Realtors.

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