HOUSING PRICES MAY BE FALLING IN SOME SECTORS, but not here:

It might seem foolish given the recent news from Wall Street, but a group of homeowners is holding firm on an ambitious goal — to break the record for the most expensive home sale in American history.

The price to beat is $103 million.

Two years ago, at the peak of the real-estate boom, only a handful of homes in the U.S. had ever been listed for $75 million, let alone $100 million. Even the highest residential sale to date — investor Ron Baron’s $103 million purchase earlier this year of a 40-acre compound in East Hampton, N.Y. — was never publicly listed. The deal was so secret that the brokers weren’t named.

There are five contenders for the current prize, including a Beverly Hills compound once owned by William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies that’s listed for $165 million; the Aspen home of Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, which has been visited by the past three U.S. presidents ($135 million); and an estate overlooking Lake Tahoe with a staircase modeled after the one aboard the Titanic (a dark horse at $100 million). All have come on the market since summer 2006.

Good luck, guys. Er, I guess.