December 31, 2017 was due mainly to a $12.9 million, or 349.0%, increase in investment securities available-for-sale, a $7.7 million, or 9.0%, increase in loans, net of unearned fees, and a $3.6 million, or 391.3%, increase in Bank owned life insurance, partially offset by a $6.0 million, or 82.8%, decrease in other interest bearing deposits, a $1.4 million, or 7.5%, decrease in investment securities held-to-maturity and a $1.3 million, or 14.0%, decrease in cash and cash equivalents. Management has focused on increasing yields earned on interest earning assets by increasing loan production and utilizing investment vehicles such as bank owned life insurance that generate higher yields.
Loans. At December 31, 2017, residential mortgage loans totaled $75.5 million, or 78.8% of the total loan portfolio compared to $73.3 million, or 82.4% of the total loan portfolio at December 31, 2016. Residential mortgage loans increased by $2.2 million, or 3.0%, during the year ended December 31, 2017 due to the increased production of residential loans in the year ended December 31, 2017 ($16.1 million originated) as compared to the prior year ($6.0 million originated).
Non-residential real estate loans totaled $13.2 million and represented 13.8% of total loans at December 31, 2017, compared to $7.0 million, or 7.9% of total loans, at December 31, 2016. During December 2016, we hired a new Commercial Real Estate lender and started offering this product again.
Construction and land loans totaled $3.2 million, and represented 3.4% of total loans, at December 31, 2017, compared to $5.1 million, or 5.7% of total loans, at December 31, 2016. At December 31, 2017, we had $1.4 million of construction loans, amounting to 41.8% of our construction and land loan portfolio, and $1.9 million of land loans, amounting to 58.2% of our construction and land loan portfolio.
Home equity lines of credit, all of which are secured by residential properties, totaled $3.5 million, and represented 3.6% of total loans, at December 31, 2017, compared to $3.5 million, or 3.9% of total loans, at December 31, 2016. The level of home equity lines of credit remained consistent between the two periods.
Our non-real estate loans consist of consumer loans, all of which are loans to depositors, secured by savings and commercial and industrial (C&I) loans secured by equipment or deposit accounts. Such loans totaled $424,000 at December 31, 2017, representing 0.4% of the loan portfolio.
Securities. At December 31, 2017, our securities held-to-maturity decreased by $1.4 million, or 7.5%, from $18.8 million at December 31, 2016 to $17.4 million at December 31, 2017. Securities held-to-maturity at December 31, 2017 consisted of U.S. Agency bonds and mortgage-backed securities issued by U.S. Government Agencies such as Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae. At December 31, 2017, our securities available-for-sale, recorded at fair value, increased by $12.9 million, or 349.0%, from $3.7 million at December 31, 2016 to $16.6 million at December 31, 2017. Securities available-for-sale at December 31, 2017 consisted of U.S. Agency bonds, mortgage-backed securities, including collateralized mortgage obligations issued by U.S. Government Agencies such as Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae, and a state municipality bond. Our securities portfolio is used to invest excess funds for increased yield and manage interest rate risk. At December 31, 2017, we also held a $754,000 investment in the common stock of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. At December 31, 2017, we held no stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Ground Rents. Ground rents, net amounted to $681,000 at December 31, 2017 compared to $688,000 at December 31, 2016.
Deposits. Total deposits increased by $10.3 million, or 11.1%, to $103.3 million at December 31, 2017 from $93.0 million at December 31, 2016. Balances in non-interest-bearing deposits increased by $127,000, or 9.0%, from $1.4 million at December 31, 2016 to $1.5 million at December 31, 2017. Interest-bearing deposits increased by $10.2 million, or 11.1%, to $101.8 million at December 31, 2017 compared to $91.6 million at December 31, 2016. We have changed the sales culture throughout the bank to make a more unified effort to increase deposits from our local community as well as from former customers of our senior management team.
Borrowings. At December 31, 2017, we had $13.0 million in borrowings from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta compared to $7.0 million in borrowings at December 31, 2016, a $6.0 million, or 85.7% increase in FHLB advances.