Welcome to this conference call for the fourth quarter 2024. My name is Susann Linde, CFO and Head of Investor Relations here at Wallenstam. I would like to start by summarizing the year 2024. We have invested a total of SEK 2.1 billion in our new and reconstruction projects. We have started construction of 577 apartments and completed 354 apartments, all of which are fully occupied. We have also signed new leases for approximately 25,000 square meters of new commercial spaces. But what has happened during this fourth quarter then? We told you last conference call that we have signed an agreement for the acquisition of the Sergelskrapan. We signed it in October. It's in Stockholm, and it's from AMF for SEK 2.8 billion.
Just before Christmas, as you can see here on the Christmas tree on the picture, we have also signed an agreement for the sale of four commercial properties, three in Gårda and one in Högsbo, to P. G. Persson and S. A. Fjället, for a total of SEK 1.25 billion. Both transactions have been completed as of today. We believe that long-term interest rates will rise, which is why we choose to hedge the interest rate further using interest rate derivatives, when we thought it was a favorable time in mid-December. I will come back to this later. We have also took the opportunity to repurchase an additional SEK 1.2 million shares, which means that we now have SEK 5 million shares in our own custody. So, Wallenstam today, as before, half of our rental value comes from residential and the other half from commercials.
A third of the properties are in Stockholm and two-thirds in Gothenburg. We continue to have a good occupancy rate by 96% in total, where residentials are fully let and the occupancy rate for commercials is 92% of the area. Let's start with some sustainability. Wallenstam's climate goals extend to 2030, and it's Scope 1, 2, and 3. For Scope 1, our goal is to have a minus 50% of outcome of CO2. Now we have increased compared to the previous year, but continue to decrease compared to the base year. The increase this year compared to the previous year is due to refrigerant leakage. The outcome was minus 31%, and the goal is 50. Scope 2, also 50% as a goal.
Our consumption of district heating has decreased during the year, and one of the major suppliers' emissions has significantly reduced, which together with reduced energy leads to lower emissions. The outcome was minus 40%. Scope 3, where we have a goal of 55% reduce of CO2 emissions, and this is our constructions. This year, only one project is reported this year, but we continue to reduce emissions from our construction activities, and the outcome was minus 31%. I have previously mentioned this project where we had a vacant property that we decided to lease out in a new way, as ready to move in full-service offices. It is the property at Kaserntorget 6 in Gothenburg, where we have worked on adapting the premises with a focus on reuse. We have retained pantries, doors, walls, and ceilings, which we have repainted, cleaned, and polished.
This resulted in a CO2 footprint that is 70% lower than what a traditional adaptation would have entailed. It also means 90% less waste than in an average renovation project. This, combined with satisfied tenants, is fantastic, I think. So, for 2024, we are not covered by the EU Taxonomy, but it will apply from the fiscal year 2025. So, however, to show our current status, we can focus on the percentages, as taxonomy-aligned properties account for 46% of total turnover and as much as 54% of our investments. This increase, compared to the previous year, is a sign of the excellent work the organization has done with energy optimizations during the year. Let us move on to the income statement. Our business is functioning, and we see a continued good earnings trend.
The NOI increased just around 11% compared to the previous year and reached a surplus ratio of 76%. But let us look closer to the details on the next slide. As I said, our NOI increased by 11%, SEK 223 million kronor, Swedish kronor. On that, the rental income increased by SEK 193 million, which is 7% up, where the comparable holdings and the new construction almost contribute to half each. In the comparable holdings, the residentials grow on average 4.5% and the commercials 6%. The operating expenses are less by 4% than last year, SEK 30 million, despite more square meters to manage.
The electricity price is one of the main reasons, as I said before, which is 40% lower and affects by SEK 63 million, including VAT. Regarding property maintenance, water, and district heating, the expenses increase mainly because of higher tariffs and also by increased property management, in total SEK 31 million.
But this increase would have been even higher if we hadn't worked with energy-saving projects. During this quarter, we have completed 75 apartments, and it is in this popular project, Nacka Grace in Nacka. Today, as we broadcast this, all the completed apartments are fully occupied. And it has been a good last quarter for us in signing important contracts with various industries. And a major agreement we just signed was with the University of Gothenburg for approximately 5,000 square meters, but that will come next year. So, when we close 2024, we have an occupancy rate in Gothenburg of 95%. And if we look at the next page, here we have our Kvarteret at Victoria in Gothenburg, where we have worked a lot with area development, which we think is very important.
These stores here are fully rented out, which is a sign that it pays off to take care of the whole area. The clothing brand Adoore in Sweden chose to place its Gothenburg store here, which attracts a lot of people, and we are very glad to have them as a tenant here. So, if we look at the total income from property management and includes administrative expenses and financial net, we recognized SEK 1.15 billion, up by almost 11% compared to last year. The administrative expenses are on total lower than last year, but here, the expenses for our investment properties, it has a negative impact for this year compared to the previous year due to an adjustment we made last year because of the situation we had with fewer starts of constructions.
The financial net is still some higher compared to last year by 13%, but the fourth quarter, it has decreased by 9%. The average interest rate was 20 basis points higher compared to last year, but the average interest rate at year-end amounts to 2.54% compared to last year, 3.24%. The main reason of the decrease is because of lower STIBOR, but it has also been affected by the fact that we have taken up new interest rate derivatives with a total volume of approximately SEK 6 billion during the year, with an average term of nine years. Here you can see here on the graph that we have added SEK 6 billion in new interest rate derivatives, and you can see the distribution here on this graph, where we have our first derivative maturity in 2026.
The last hedges of SEK 4.6 billion were made during the fourth quarter when long-term interest rates temporarily decreased, as we believe that long-term interest rates will increase in the long run. We have now secured 72% of our total loan volume. This means that we have now extended the fixed interest rate term to an average of 52 months. I would also like to mention the ICR interest coverage ratio, which is 1.9 times. It is negatively affected by the write-down we had made of our associated companies. So, a more accurate picture, if we are to base it on ongoing operations, the ICR ratio is 2.3x instead.
If we go back to the regular income statement and leave the income from property management, one of the items I want to comment on is the result of the associated companies, where we have written down a total amount of SEK 336 million regarding our holdings in Colive and Convendum. This quarter, we decided to write down the holding in Convendum down to zero. It is out of caution due to the ongoing reconstruction, but we continue to believe in the business idea and the operation will be sustainable over time. And then we go to the next slide and look at our value changes. If we start by commenting on the changes in value of our properties, we recognize a value increase of SEK 388 million. It's an effect of higher net operating income as we have incorporated the increased rents for the next year.
We have not adjusted any direct yield requirements, and the value changes in financial instruments is amounting plus SEK 102 million and just this fourth quarter by plus SEK 443 million because of the increased long interest rates during this quarter. We have also recognized impairment loss in our wind turbines of SEK 62 million due to lower forecasted electricity prices. In total, we recognize a profit of SEK 774 million after tax, which is SEK 1.2 billion more compared to the previous year. We still have a stable balance sheet with an equity ratio of 45% and an LTV of 46%. Our investment properties have a value of almost SEK 66 billion. Properties in operation have a value of almost SEK 61 billion, and projects in progress and land for future new construction amount to SEK 5 billion. As I said before, we haven't adjusted our direct yield requirements.
They are now 4.5% on average for commercials and 3.7% for residentials. The average has moved by one basis point compared to last quarter from 4.6% and 3.6% because of sales and completed constructions. 57% of the property value is in residentials and the other part in commercials. In total, this year, we have invested SEK 2.1 billion in our new and reconstruction, which is less than the years before. We haven't started any new construction this last quarter, but as I mentioned, we have started construction of 577 apartments this year in total, which means that we now have just over 1,300 apartments under construction. With these starts and the completions we have had during the year, we now have 1,304 apartments under construction in seven different projects, two in Gothenburg region and the rest in Stockholm. So, what has happened then with the interest-bearing liabilities?
They have increased since previous year by SEK 1.3 billion and amount to SEK 30.3 billion. That gives us a stable base, like I said, with an equity ratio of 45% and an LTV of 46%. Our NAV amounts to SEK 57.5 per share. So, with this base and leaving a good year behind us, we look even brighter towards 2025. That was all for today, and if you have any questions, please contact me. You can also check in on our Swedish conference call and ask questions live. So, thank you for listening and have a nice day.