December 31, 2016 was due mainly to an $11.1 million, or 60.6%, decrease in other interest-bearing deposits in other banks, a $7.1 million, or 7.6%, decrease in loans, net of unearned fees, reflecting lack of loan officers at the Bank, and a $4.8 million, or 56.4%, decrease in investment securities available-for-sale, partially offset by a $9.7 million, or 105.8%, increase in investment securities held-to-maturity and a $5.5 million, or 149.0%, increase in cash and cash equivalents.
Loans. At December 31, 2016, residential mortgage loans totaled $73.3 million, or 82.4% of the total loan portfolio compared to $78.7 million, or 82.4% of the total loan portfolio at December 31, 2015. Residential mortgage loans decreased by $5.4 million, 6.9%, during the year ended December 31, 2016 primarily due to lack of loan officers at the Bank.
Non-residential real estate loans totaled $7.0 million and represented 7.9% of total loans at December 31, 2016, compared to $8.3 million, or 8.7% of total loans, at December 31, 2015. Prior to December 2016, we did not offer non-residential real estate loans. During December 2016, we hired a new Commercial Real Estate lender and now offer this product again.
Construction and land loans totaled $5.1 million, and represented 5.7% of total loans, at December 31, 2016, compared to $4.8 million, or 5.0% of total loans, at December 31, 2015. At December 31, 2016, we had $2.0 million of construction loans, amounting to 38.3% of our construction and land loan portfolio, and $3.1 million of land loans, amounting to 61.7% 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 3.9% of total loans, at December 31, 2016, compared to $3.7 million, or 3.9% of total loans, at December 31, 2015. The decrease in home equity lines of credit reflected weak loan demand in our market area.
Our non-real estate loans consist of consumer loans, all of which are loans to depositors, secured by savings. Such loans totaled $18,000 at December 31, 2016, representing less than 0.02% of the loan portfolio.
Securities. At December 31, 2016, our securities held-to-maturity increased by $9.7 million, or 105.8%, from $9.1 million at December 31, 2015 to $18.8 million at December 31, 2016. Securities held-to-maturity at December 31, 2016 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, 2016, our securities available-for-sale, recorded at fair value, decreased by $4.8 million from $8.5 million at December 31, 2015 to $3.7 million at December 31, 2016. Securities available-for-sale at December 31, 2016 consisted of U.S. Agency bonds and mortgage-backed securities, including collateralized mortgage obligations issued by U.S. Government Agencies such as Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae. Our securities portfolio is used to invest excess funds for increased yield and manage interest rate risk. At December 31, 2016, we also held a $418,000 investment in the common stock of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. At December 31, 2016, we held no stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Ground Rents. Ground rents, net amounted to $688,000 at December 31, 2016 compared to $695,000 at December 31, 2015.
Deposits. Total deposits increased by $323,000, or 0.3%, to $93.0 million at December 31, 2016 from $92.7 million at December 31, 2015. Balances in non-interest-bearing deposits decreased by $343,000, or 19.5%, from $1.8 million at December 31, 2015 to $1.4 million at December 31, 2016. Interest-bearing deposits increased by $666,000, or 0.7%, to $91.6 million at December 31, 2016 compared to $90.9 million at December 31, 2015.
Borrowings. At December 31, 2016, we had $7.0 million in borrowings from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta compared to $12.0 million in borrowings at December 31, 2015, a $5.0 million, or 41.7% reduction in short term FHLB advances. During December 2016 we retired $7.0 million in FHLB advances and incurred a $140,000 early extinguishment fee which is classified with our “Other non-interest fees”.
Stockholders’ Equity. Stockholders’ equity decreased by $4.6 million, or 13.1%, to $30.3 million at December 31, 2016 from $34.9 million at December 31, 2015 primarily as the result of a stock repurchase plan whereby the company repurchased 215,600 shares of its common stock at an average price of $13.07 per share and net losses of $1.8 million for the 12 months ended December 31, 2016.