2 min readA question we often get at Unison is "where do you get your funds?" People want to have confidence that our investment in their home is coming from someone equally focused on the long-term.
At a fundamental level, Unison connects homeowners with institutional investors – and allows them to solve each other's needs. On one hand, Unison helps homeowners who want to access the hard-earned equity trapped in their house. Maybe to help fund for their children’s educations, their retirement needs, healthcare, or renovations. On the other hand, Unison helps institutional investors access an asset which is closely aligned to their long-term objectives: diversified residential real estate.
Why do investors want a “piece” of my home?
To put it simply, housing is the largest asset class in the world. It makes up nearly 1/5th of the global economy and is the single largest component of inflation. Based on these characteristics, it should play a key role in long-term investment portfolios, as a safe hedge against inflation and a way to capture the benefits of wider economic growth.
However, housing has historically been inefficient, if not functionally impossible, for institutional investors to access. As any would-be landlord knows, the process of buying individual homes, managing them, finding tenants, and maintaining those properties is costly, time consuming and nearly impossible to do in a truly diversified way. Dedicated property management or real estate businesses are all-in, of course, but what about large-scale investors who want to participate more passively? By co-investing with homeowners, Unison allows these investors to overcome the traditional costs and inefficiencies. They – and we – don’t want to own your home. But co-investing, together, is a win for all sides.
So, who are these investors?
They are organizations who invest for the long-term, and who help everyday people. Pension funds and university endowments are two key examples for Unison.
Pension funds
Pension funds provide for ordinary people (such as teachers and healthcare workers) in their retirement, and help them live their golden years as they want to. A pension fund’s success is measured by whether it keeps the promise it owes retirees in the decades (not just individual years), ahead. Investing efficiently and safely is a core tenet of how pension funds work to preserve the real (inflation-adjusted) value of money set aside to pay pensions.
University endowments
University endowments have a long-term (often considered "infinite") time horizon. Endowments exist to help pay for the operating cost of a university, fund new facilities, and provide for ground-breaking research – essentially in perpetuity. To meet these needs, they must preserve the inflation-adjusted value of their investments over the very-long-term. A diversified investment in housing is closely aligned with this goal.
A partnership built for the long term.
At Unison, we believe that homeowners deserve access to flexible, fair financial tools – without being forced to sell or borrow in traditional ways. That’s why we created a model that works differently: one that connects your goals with the long-term interests of mission-driven institutions like pension funds and university endowments.
When you partner with Unison, you’re not just unlocking your equity. You’re forming a true connection, built on aligned incentives, shared outcomes, and mutual respect. The capital we provide comes from organizations committed to stability and stewardship, not short-term speculation.
It’s a mutually-beneficial structure. You get to use your equity when it matters most, and they gain access to an asset class that supports their long-term commitments. In short, it’s an investment in what matters most – on both sides.
