We also own office buildings in Arizona, Texas, New York, New Mexico, Colorado and the United Kingdom. These owned properties are not material to our consolidated financial condition. We consider all buildings and equipment that we own or lease to be well maintained, adequately insured and generally sufficient for our purposes.
•$8.0 million of net realized and unrealized losses, which included $11.7 million of impairment expenses relating to long-lived assets, partially offset by $2.2 million of realized gains on sale of securities investments and $1.1 million of net unrealized gains on fair value changes of equity securities investments,
Title segment pretax income increased $74.6 million, while pretax margin improved 960 basis points to 13.6% in the fourth quarter 2020 compared to the prior year quarter. Title operating revenues increased $184.2 million, or 36%, resulting from increases in direct title revenues of $106.0 million, or 45%, and gross independent agency revenues of $78.3 million, or 29%. In line with the increased title revenues, the segment’s fourth quarter 2020 overall operating expenses increased $116.3 million, or 24%, with agency retention expenses and combined title employee costs and other operating expenses increasing 28% and 16%, respectively, from the prior year quarter. Average independent agency remittance rate improved to 18.2% in the fourth quarter 2020, compared to 17.7% in the prior year quarter, while combined title employee costs and other operating expenses, as a percentage of title revenues, improved to 38.8% in the fourth quarter 2020 compared to 45.7% in the prior year quarter.
Industry data. Published U.S. mortgage interest rates and other selected residential housing data for the three years ended December 31, 2020 are shown below (amounts shown for 2020 are preliminary and subject to revision). The amounts below may not relate directly to or provide accurate data for forecasting our operating revenues or order counts. Our statements on home sales, mortgage interest rates and loan activity are based on averaged published industry data from sources including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Premiums are determined in part by the values of the transactions we handle. To the extent inflation or market conditions cause increases in the prices of homes and other real estate, premium revenues are also increased. Conversely, falling home prices cause premium revenues to decline. As an overall guideline, a 5% change in median home prices results in approximately 3.7% change in title premiums. Home price changes may override the seasonal nature of the title insurance business. Historically, our first quarter is the least active in terms of title insurance revenues as home buying is generally depressed during winter months. Our second and third quarters are the most active as the summer is the traditional home buying season, and while commercial transaction closings are skewed to the end of the year, individually large commercial transactions can occur any time of year. On average, refinance title premium rates are 60% of the premium rates for a similarly priced sale transaction.
Title losses paid were $82.0 million, $91.0 million and $82.7 million in 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Total claim payments in 2020 decreased compared to 2019, primarily due to lower payments on non-large claims, partially offset by higher payments on large claims. The higher claims payments in 2019 compared to the prior year were primarily due to higher payments on non-large claims, partially offset by lower payments on large claims. Claims payments made on large title claims, net of insurance recoveries, during 2020, 2019 and 2018 were $8.7 million, $6.1 million and $7.3 million, respectively.
Investing activities. Cash used and provided by investing activities is primarily driven by proceeds from matured and sold investments, purchases of investments, capital expenditures and acquisition of title offices and other businesses. During 2020, 2019 and 2018, total proceeds from securities investments sold and matured were $96.0 million, $99.3 million and $79.1 million, respectively; while cash used for purchases of securities investments was $118.3 million, $77.5 million and $43.1 million, respectively. The higher purchases of securities investments in 2020 and 2019 were primarily due to our resumption to normal activity of investing in securities, following the relatively lower activity in 2018 when we invested more into cash equivalents and short-term investments, which had more favorable interest rates.
Off-balance sheet arrangements. We do not have any material source of liquidity or financing that involves off-balance sheet arrangements. We routinely hold funds in segregated escrow accounts relating to closing of real estate transactions that we service and tax-deferred property exchanges, pursuant to Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code, where we serve as a qualified intermediary and hold the proceeds until the related qualifying exchange occurs. In accordance with industry practice, these segregated accounts are not included on our balance sheet. See Note 16 to our audited consolidated financial statements included in Item 15 of Part IV of this report for details.