FNF Core Corporate and Other. This segment consists of the operations of the parent holding company, certain other unallocated corporate overhead expenses, and other smaller real estate and insurance-related operations.
During 2015 and 2014, payment patterns were consistent with our actuaries and management's expectations. Also, we continued to see positive development relating to the 2009 through 2014 policy years, which we believe is indicative of more stringent underwriting standards by us and the lending industry. In addition we have seen significant positive development in residential owners policies due to increased payments on residential lenders policies which inherently limit the potential loss on the related owners policy to the differential in coverage amount between the amount insured under the owner's policy and the amount paid under the residential lender's policy. Also, any residential lender policy claim paid relating to a property that is in foreclosure negates any potential loss under an owner's policy previously issued on the property as the owner has no equity in the property. Along with the positive development on claims management expenses, our ending open claim inventory decreased from approximately 21,000 claims at December 31, 2014 to approximately 17,000 claims at December 31, 2015. If actual claims loss
The following table presents our fair value hierarchy for those assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively:
During the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, we incurred impairment charges relating to investments that were determined to be other-than-temporarily impaired of $14 million, $6 million, and $1 million, respectively. Impairment charges during all three years related to fixed maturity securities primarily related to our conclusion that the credit risk of these holdings was high and the ability of the issuer to pay the full amount of the principal outstanding was unlikely. Impairment charges in the 2015 period also included an immaterial portion related to equity securities.
Black Knight Revenue Recognition. Within our Black Knight segment, our primary types of revenues and our revenue recognition policies as they pertain to the types of contractual arrangements we enter into with our customers to provide services, software licenses, and software-related services either individually or as part of an integrated offering of multiple services. These arrangements occasionally include offerings from more than one segment to the same customer. We recognize revenues relating to mortgage processing, outsourced business processing services, data and analytics services, along with software licensing and software-related services. In some cases, these services are offered in combination with one another, and in other cases we offer them individually. Revenues from processing services are typically volume-based depending on factors such as the number of accounts processed, transactions processed and computer resources utilized.
of total revenues from direct title premiums and escrow, title-related and other fees was 52.1% and 53% for the years ended December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively. Average employee count in the Title segment was 20,819 and 19,470 in the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. The increase in the 2015 period is attributable to the aforementioned increase in order volumes and implementation of TRID.
Earnings from continuing operations before income taxes increased $154 million in the year ended December 31, 2015 compared to the 2014 period. The increase is primarily attributable to the increased revenue and decreased costs discussed above.
Seasonality. Historically, real estate transactions have produced seasonal revenue levels for the real estate industry including title insurers. The first calendar quarter is typically the weakest quarter in terms of revenue due to the generally low volume of home sales during January and February. The third calendar quarter has been typically the strongest in terms of revenue primarily due to a higher volume of home sales in the summer months and the fourth quarter is usually also strong due to commercial entities desiring to complete transactions by year-end. We have noted short term fluctuations through recent years in resale and refinance transactions as a result of changes in interest rates and the implementation and subsequent expiration of government programs designed to stimulate the real estate market. In 2014 and 2013, we saw seasonality trends return to historical patterns. During 2015, we experienced a moderate increase in existing home sales and we have also seen a decline in total housing inventory. However, we have experienced significant declines in refinance activity starting in the fourth quarter of 2013.
We have audited Fidelity National Financial, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2015, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Fidelity National Financial, Inc.’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit.
On February 18, 2015, we closed the sale of substantially all of the assets of Cascade Timberlands, LLC ("Cascade") which grows and sells timber and in which we owned a 70.2% interest, for $85 million less a replanting allowance of $1 million and an indemnity holdback of $1 million. The revenue from the sale was recorded in Escrow, title related and other fees and the cost of the land sold was in other operating expenses in the Consolidated Statement of Operations in the twelve months ended December 31, 2015. The effect of the sale on FNFV's net earnings was income of approximately $12 million. There was no effect on net earnings attributable to FNFV Group common shareholders due to offsetting amounts attributable to noncontrolling interests.
We completed annual goodwill impairment analyses in the fourth quarter of each respective year using a September 30 measurement date and as a result no goodwill impairments have been recorded. For the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, we determined there were no events or circumstances which indicated that the carrying value exceeded the fair value.
For comparative purposes, selected unaudited pro-forma consolidated results of operations of FNF for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 are presented below. Pro-forma results presented assume the consolidation of LPS occurred as of the beginning of the 2013 period.
As a result of the Black Knight IPO and ServiceLink Reorganization discussed in Note A, our ownership interest in BKFS, LLC and ServiceLink changed to 55% and 79%, respectively, as of May 26, 2015 and June 20, 2015, respectively. Our results for periods subsequent to these dates reflect the new ownership percentages in BKFS, LLC and ServiceLink.
Investments in unconsolidated affiliates are recorded using the equity method of accounting and as of December 31, 2015 and 2014 consisted of the following (in millions):
At December 31, 2015, the estimated fair value of our long-term debt was approximately $3,162 million or $337 million higher than its carrying value, excluding unamortized debt issuance costs. The fair value of our unsecured notes payable was $1,728 million as of December 31, 2015. The fair values of our unsecured notes payable are based on established market prices for the securities on December 31, 2015 and are considered Level 2 financial liabilities. The carrying value of the Black Knight Term A, Term B, and Revolving Credit facilities; the ABRH term loan; and the Digital Insurance revolving credit facility approximate fair value at December 31, 2015, as they are variable rate instruments with short reset periods (either monthly or quarterly) which reflect current market rates. The revolving credit facilities are considered Level 2 financial liabilities.