The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported Wednesday thathomeowners refinanced more than 344,000 mortgages in the secondquarter of 2014, 54,000 through the Home Affordable RefinanceProgram.

Consumers who refinance through HARP can lower their interestrates on home loans even if their loan-to-value ratio would be toohigh to qualify them under other programs.

The FHFA also reported that the volume of mortgages homeownersrefinanced in June increased slightly due to a small drop ininterest rates during the month, but did not enumerate theincrease.

“Mortgage rates have ranged between 4% and 4.5% since June2013,” the agency wrote in its Refinance Report for the secondquarter. “In June, the average interest rate on a 30 year fixedrate mortgage decreased from May to 4.16%.”

The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac regulator reported homeownersrefinanced 19.5 million GSE-owned mortgages and that 3.1 millionhad been refinanced through HARP. The FHFA also estimated that alittle more than 800,000 mortgages remained that qualified for HARPand that those homeowners could save an average of almost $2,300per year on their mortgages.

The agency also reported that while HARP refinances represented18% of refinanced mortgages nationwide year-to-date as of June 30,they represented 37% of refinanced mortgages in Georgia and 35% inFlorida.

The FHFA also reported homeowners who refinanced their loanswith HARP had a lower delinquency rate compared to borrowerseligible for HARP who did not refinance through the program.