US to focus on housing stability in GSE reform-Barr

WASHINGTON Feb 1 (Reuters) - The Obama administration will look to ensure U.S. housing market stability is retained as it reforms the nation's two largest providers of home mortgage credit, a top Treasury official said on Monday.

The administration will further outline principles that will guide the reforms of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as it moves forward, said Michael Barr, the Treasury's assistant secretary for financial institutions.

"We want to be sure, that as we move to reform the GSEs, we are focused on retaining strong market stability in our housing sector," Barr said at a conference of the American Securitization Forum, a group with interests in the public and private bond markets.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are known as government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs.

(Reporting by Al Yoon, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)