Updated

Federal housing regulators on Thursday provided a broad estimate of just how much the bailout of mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will end up costing taxpayers: up to $259 billion.

That's far more expensive than the government's bailouts of the banks, auto companies and insurance giant American International Group Inc. Those efforts under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, may cost the taxpayers $51 billion, the Treasury Department estimated earlier this month.

Below are the details of the Treasury Department's estimates: