to cover the income tax obligation which resulted from allocations at taxable income to Realtor. The carried interest for Realtor Real Estate fund 1 under a hypothetical liquidation increased by approximately 22 million for the quarter. After the 34.7 million distribution, the carried interest is now at 110 million. Second, our new Realtor mortgage finance operations contributed 510 million of commercial loans and for three securitizations resulting in earnings of 19.2 million for the quarter before their GNA expenses. Third, our direct investments which primarily are being monetized at a profit of 200000 and will continue to liquidate these direct investments as we go forwards. Realtor’s GNA and other expenses were 40.2 million for the quarter and interest expense relating to the senior notes was 70.4 million. Realtor end of the year with a stronger liquidity position resulted 200 million in cash.
Turning to the multifamily segment, there were no apartment building sales expected during the fourth quarter and there were results reflect startup costs associated with the build out of our current construction pipeline which positions us for a well profitable 2015. Our investment in multifamily is approximately 200 million and we continue to grow this business primarily using third party capital. Our tax rate for the fourth quarter was 33.8% and for the year it was 34.8%. The rate was favorably impacted by the section 199 domestic production activities deduction which is now available to us since we have utilized our federal net operating losses and various tax credits.
Turning to the balance sheet, 2014 was another year of balance sheet strengthening. Our liquidity improved as our home building cash balance improved by almost 200 million with no outstanding borrowings under our 1.5 billion unsecured revolving credit facility at year end. Our leverage improved by 150 basis points as our home building net debt to total capital reduced to 44.1%. We grew stockholder’s equity by 658 million. The 4.8 billion and our book value per share increased at 23$ and 54 cents. During the quarter, we paid off 250 million of maturing 5.5% senior notes and issued 350 million of 4.5% senior notes due 2019. We continued to reduce our borrowing rate as a company’s financial condition strengthens.
Turning to 2015 Goals, I wanted to summarize what has been said on this call and highlight a few additional goals for 2015. Starting with deliveries, we are currently geared up to deliver between 23500 and 24000 homes for 2015. We expect to back log the conversion ratio of approximately 70% for the first quarter. 85-90% for the second and third quarters. 90-100% for the fourth quarter. Turning to gross margin, Consistent to the goal that we set at the beginning of 2014. Our gross margin percentage for 2015 netted to approximately 25% excluding insurance recoveries and other non-recurring items. We expect our gross margins in 2015 to average 24% for the full year. Although these remain healthy margins, the reduction is a result of less pricing power anticipated in 2015, bringing on some communities with modestly lower gross margins and a slight increase in the number of entry level communities.
There will be seasonality between the quarters with the first quarter being the lowest gross margin percentage and then improvement in the gross margin percentage as volumes increase throughout the year. Our SGNA and corporate GNA alliance will continue to focus on leveraging these lines and expect 15 to 25 basis points of potential improvement in 2015. Financial services earnings are expected to be in the range of 85 to 90 million for the year, the quarterly amounts are expected to spread similar to last year with the first quarter anticipated to be the lower quarter of profitability, for Realtor, we expect a range of profits of 30 to 40 million for the year and it is heavily waited for second half of the year. As a reminder 2014 included partial collection and recognition of carried interest from real estate fund one and additionally.
We had significant gain and increase in mark to market for asset held by our real estate funds which are not expected to be as significant in 2015 at this point.
