By Lily Kuo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An 8,000-square-foot penthouse in midtown Manhattan is on sale for $100 million, the most expensive apartment currently on the market in New York and a price that would set a record for the city.

"If someone paid $100 million for this apartment it would be record-breaking, said Ashley Murphy, director of public relations at Prudential Douglas Elliman, which listed the apartment on Friday.

Raphael De Niro, the son of actor Robert De Niro, is one of the agents selling the six-bedroom, nine-bathroom home that sits atop the CitySpire skyscraper near Central Park, Carnegie Hall and Fifth Avenue.

The current record sale price for a Manhattan apartment is about $90 million, paid by an unidentified buyer in May for a penthouse apartment in a luxury residential building just south of Central Park.

That topped a record set in February when it was revealed that family of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev bought a Central Park West penthouse for $88 million.

The CitySpire penthouse is a sign of the upward tick in prices of luxury, or "trophy apartments," in New York, which are often snatched up by foreign buyers.

"The higher end seems to be getting higher," Murphy said.

The owner of the CitySpire penthouse, New York real estate developer Steven Klar, originally bought the apartment in 1993 for about $4.5 million and spent almost the same amount renovating the space, he told The New York Times.

De Niro and Klar were not immediately available for comment.

The apartment, outfitted by interior designer Juan Pablo Molyneaux boasts wrap-around terraces for 360-degree views of the city, a formal gallery, a conference room, a separate guest or staff apartment, and a private elevator for its three floors, according to the listing description.

(Editing by Leslie Adler)