Marketable equity securities consist of common stock investments in other commercial banks and bank holding companies. At December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Corporation had $1,646,000 and $1,933,000, respectively, in equity securities recorded at fair value, a decrease of $287,000 or 14.8%.
LOANS
Total loans increased to $720,610,000 as of December 31, 2020, as compared to a balance of $647,732,000 as of December 31, 2019. Table 8 provides data relating to the composition of the Corporation’s loan portfolio on the dates indicated. Total loans increased $72,878,000, or 11.3% in 2020 compared to an increase of $41,340,000, or 6.8% in 2019.
Steady demand for borrowing by businesses (including loans issued through the Bank’s participation in the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program) accounted for the 11.3% increase in the loan portfolio from December 31, 2019 to December 31, 2020. Overall, the Commercial and Industrial portfolio (which includes tax-free Commercial and Industrial loans) increased 6.0% or $5,163,000 to $91,875,000 at December 31, 2020 compared to $86,712,000 at December 31, 2019. The increase in the Commercial and Industrial portfolio was mainly attributable to originations of Paycheck Protection Program loans which amounted to $22,976,000 as of December 31, 2020. The portion of the Commercial and Industrial portfolio not attributable to the Paycheck Protection Program loans decreased $17,813,000 during the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease was mainly attributable to $11,102,000 in new loan originations offset by a $5,522,000 decrease in utilization of existing Commercial and Industrial lines of credit and loan payoffs of $17,965,000, as well as regular principal payments and other typical fluctuations in the Commercial and Industrial portfolio. The Commercial Real Estate portfolio (which includes tax-free Commercial Real Estate loans) increased 17.9% or $70,927,000 to $466,728,000 at December 31, 2020 compared to $395,801,000 at December 31, 2019. The increase was mainly the result of $117,952,000 in new loan originations net against a $2,067,000 decrease in utilization of existing Commercial Real Estate lines of credit and $38,793,000 in loan payoffs, in addition to regular principal payments and other typical amortization in the Commercial Real Estate portfolio. Residential Real Estate loans decreased 1.5% or $2,367,000 to $156,983,000 at December 31, 2020 compared to $159,350,000 at December 31, 2019. The decrease was the result of $33,481,000 in new loan originations and a $206,000 increase in utilization of existing Residential Real Estate (Home Equity) lines of credit, offset by loan payoffs of $24,784,000, net loans sold of $7,019,000 and regular principal payments and other typical amortization in the Residential Real Estate portfolio. Net loans sold for the year ended December 31, 2020 consisted of total loans sold during the year ended December 31, 2020 of $14,760,000, offset with loans opened and sold in the same quarter during each quarter of 2020 which amounted to $7,741,000. The Corporation continues to originate and sell certain long-term fixed rate residential mortgage loans which conform to secondary market requirements. The Corporation derives ongoing income from the servicing of mortgages sold in the secondary market. The Corporation continues its efforts to lend to creditworthy borrowers.
Management believes that the loan portfolio is well diversified. The total commercial portfolio was $558,603,000 at December 31, 2020. Of total loans, $466,728,000 or 64.8% were secured by commercial real estate, primarily lessors of residential buildings and dwellings and lessors of non-residential buildings. The Corporation continues to monitor these portfolios.
All loan relationships in excess of $1,500,000 are reviewed internally and/or externally through a loan review process on an annual basis. Such review is based upon analysis of current financial statements of the borrower, co-borrowers/guarantors, payment history, and economic conditions.
Overall, the portfolio risk profile as measured by loan grade is considered low risk, as $695,657,000 or 96.7% of gross loans are graded Pass; $1,039,000 or 0.1% are graded Special Mention; $23,098,000 or 3.2% are graded Substandard; and $0 are graded Doubtful. The rating is intended to represent the best assessment of risk available at a given point in time, based upon a review of the borrower’s financial statements, credit analysis, payment history with the Bank, credit history and lender knowledge of the borrower. See Note 4 — Loans and Allowance for Loan Losses for risk grading tables.
Overall, non-pass grades increased to $24,137,000 at December 31, 2020, as compared to $14,887,000 at December 31, 2019. Commercial and Industrial non-pass grades decreased to $919,000 as of December 31, 2020,