Independent Bank Corp. benefited from loan growth and its Peoples Federal acquisition in the fourth quarter, though company leadership expressed some wariness about affordable housing options for young professionals expected to migrate to Boston with GE’s impending arrival.

Responding to an investor’s question about risks in the Boston development market, Christopher Oddleifson, president and CEO of both Rockland Trust and its parent company, remarked, “There’s a $35 million penthouse available on top of Millennium Tower if you’re interested.”

“There’s been a little bit of concern about that. We do not lend into that market. Those projects are too big for us. We will lend on a smaller scale in the luxury market with developers who have a good reputation,” he said.

Oddleifson also mused, more generally, about the lack of affordable housing options for young professionals in Boston, particularly in light of GE’s recent decision to relocate its headquarters to the Seaport District.

“The GE announcement will bring a lot of jobs in here that will support multifamily housing pricing. What is a really interesting question is, what is the situation with multifamily housing in Boston and how does that impact our overall economic growth?” he said. “There is a lack of affordable housing. … I’m talking about affordable housing for the young professionals who want to come to Boston and work in the tech sector and work perhaps in some of the entry level jobs at GE.”

But policy questions aside, Rockland Trust and its parent company benefited greatly in the fourth quarter from increased loan growth and from its Boston expansion with the closing last year of the Peoples Federal deal.

Net income totaled $19.5 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $15.9 million in the year-ago period, representing a 21.8 percent year-over-year increase. That came out to 74 cents per share, up 10.5 percent from 67 cents per share for the same period in 2014.

Total assets increased 13.3 percent, or $845.1 million, year-over-year to $7.2 billion on Dec. 31. Compared with the prior year period, total loans increased $577 million, or 11.6 percent, to $5.5 billion. Commercial loans, in particular, increased 11.4 percent year-over-year to $3.9 billion, and beneath that umbrella, commercial construction increased 40.3 percent year-over-year to $373.4 million on Dec. 31.

In an earnings call with investors, CFO Rob Cozzone stressed that the company’s commercial portfolio was well diversified, with no single city or town representing more than 10 percent of the portfolio and no one project representing more than 5 percent.

Emphasizing credit quality, he remarked, “We know the challenges that all too rapid growth can pose.”

The Rockland Trust parent company saw a 20 percent increase in residential real estate lending, which totaled $638.6 million in the fourth quarter and benefited particularly from home equity lending, too. First-position home equity loans increased 5.7 percent and subordinate position home equity loans increased 9.8 percent.

Noninterest income totaled $19.8 million in the fourth quarter, which represented a 3 percent increase from the prior quarter and a 7.3 percent increase from the prior year quarter. From the prior quarter, deposit account fees and interchange and ATM fees decreased $98,000, or 1.1 percent; mortgage banking income declined $149,000, or 10.1 percent; and investment management income increased $139,000, or 2.8 percent, driven primarily by a 5.1 percent increase in assets under administration, which totaled $2.7 billion.

Cozzone attributed the gradual decline in overdraft fees to changing consumer behavior, citing a lower unemployment rate and greater general awareness, and said the company anticipated lower overdraft fees heading into 2016. However, he said that debit interchange revenue represented a stronger opportunity for fee income as the bank continues to get debit cards into customers’ hands.

Total deposits increased $780.2 million, or 15 percent, over the year-ago period to just under $6 billion.