The Treasury Department says it will begin selling its remaining $142 billion in holdings of mortgage backed securities purchased during the financial crisis.

Treasury officials said the first sales of up to $10 billion in the securities, primarily issued by troubled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, would start this month.

Assistant Treasury Secretary Mary Miller said that the sales represented a continuation of efforts by the government to wind down the emergency programs put in place in 2008 and 2009 to help restore market stability.