HIGHLIGHTS-US's Paulson and UK's Darling news conference

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Below are highlights from U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and UK finance minister Alistair Darling's news conference in London.

Below are highlights from the session:

PAULSON ON WHICH AGENCY SHOULD ADMINISTER INVESTMENT BANK INSOLVENCIES WITH GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION

"I think in terms picking an agency that would have that responsibility, that's something that's going to require more thought and I think that's something where Congress is going to make a decision. We look forward to working with Congress."

PAULSON ON U.S. HOUSING RESCUE BILL

"I'm going to continue to work as I have for some time, helping to get a housing bill to the president's desk that he can sign.

"My principal focus for some time has been the Oversight the GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. There are some provisions of the bill that look less attractive but we'll continue to work to make the bill better. I'm optimistic that there will be progress and we can get a bill that the president can sign."

DARLING ON HOUSING MARKET

"The United States housing market is different from the UK housing market. In the United States there is a problem with unsold houses in certain parts of the United States. Fundamentally in this country, as you know, in the long term the demand for housing is greater than the supply.

"Obviously, immediately, because of the credit crunch the availability of mortgages is much reduced."

PAULSON ON DOLLAR IMPACT ON OIL PRICES

"The dollar has had a very small impact. Take a look, the dollar has depreciated roughly 24, a little bit less than 25 percent, since February 2002. Oil has gone up well over 500 percent. It's gone up in every currency. I believe that although there may be a number of factors with regard to oil, the predominant factor by far is supply and demand, is the fact that global production and capacity hasn't increased appreciably over the last 10 years and the demand has continued to grow and inventories are at low levels."

"Only if you acknowledge the issue are we going to be able to deal effectively with finding a solution."

PAULSON ON U.S. ECONOMY

"Oil prices have a strong headwind and at this level they're definitely going to -- not definitely, I wouldn't want to be that definitive -- but they've got a high risk that they're going to prolong the slowdown.

"The capital markets problems and turmoil are going to take a while also, and as I said, this housing correction will be going on for some time.

"There continue to be some strong parts of the economy. We have a resilient economy, we have good productivity, we have good efficiency. I think there's a very strong possibility that we will be growing at the end of the year, we will have stronger growth at the end of the year than we have right now."