WASHINGTON (AP) — Government-controlled mortgage finance company Fannie Mae said Friday it is extending a halt to evictions on foreclosed properties through the end of this month as it implements pieces of the Obama administration's plan to help struggling homeowners.

Fannie Mae's extension comes two weeks after the company announced its moratorium on foreclosure-related evictions, which initially was to run through Friday.

On Thursday, Freddie Mac, another mortgage finance giant controlled by the government, took a similar action, extending its moratorium on foreclosure-related evictions through April 1.

Fannie Mae on Friday also issued foreclosure sale requirements in response to Obama's Making Home Affordable program, intended to help 9 million struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure. A foreclosure sale may not occur on any Fannie Mae loan until the loan servicer verifies that the borrower is ineligible for loan-modification criteria set in Obama's plan, and other foreclosure prevention alternatives have been exhausted, Fannie Mae said.

More than 2.3 million homeowners faced foreclosure proceedings last year, an 81 percent increase from 2007, and analysts say that number could soar as high as 10 million in the coming years, depending on the severity of the recession.

Washington-based Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were seized by the federal government in September 2008. They own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans worth about $5.5 trillion — more than half of all U.S home mortgages.

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