For the second quarter 2021, Stewart reported, net income of $95 million and diluted earnings per share of $3.50 on total operating revenues of $802 million.
Compared to last year, total title revenues for the quarter increased $248 million or 50% due to strong performances from our residential agency and commercial operations.
The title segment generated $126 million of pre-tax income, an increase of $71 million from last year's quarter.
Pre-tax margin for the segment also improved to 17% compared to 11% from Q2 2020.
With respect to our direct title business, residential revenues increased $76 million or 47% from increased purchase and refinancing transactions.
Residential fee per file for the second quarter was approximately $2,100, a 15% improvement over last year's fee per file due to a higher purchase mix this year.
Domestic commercial revenues improved $30 million or 97% due to increased transaction volume and higher average fee per file, which was $12,600 versus $9,800 for last year's quarter.
Total international revenues increased $29 million or 118%, primarily due to improved volumes in our Canadian operations.
Total open orders increased 8%, while closed orders improved 27% compared to the last year, primarily due to the strong housing market.
Similar to our direct title business, our agency operations generated a solid quarter with revenues of $390 million, which was $113 million or 41% higher than last year.
The average agency remittance rate was settled or at 17.5%.
On title losses, total title loss expense increased $12 million or 56%, primarily as a result of increased title revenues as a percentage of title revenues, title loss expense was 4.5% compared to 4.3% last year.
Employee cost as a percent of operating revenues improved to 24% from 27% last year while other operating expenses increased to 17% from 15% last year, primarily due to the pass-through appraisal and service costs in our increased appraisal services businesses, excluding these businesses overall other operating expense ratios would have been 12% for the second quarter 2021.
Our total cash and investments on the balance sheet are approximately $600 million over regulatory requirements and we have approximately $225 million available on our line of credit facility.
Shareholders' equity attributable to Stewart increased to $1.13 billion with book value per share of approximately $42.
And lastly, net cash provided by operations for the second quarter increased to $103 million compared to $61 million from last year's quarter.

Summary:
For the second quarter 2021, Stewart reported, net income of $95 million and diluted earnings per share of $3.50 on total operating revenues of $802 million.