a report which analyzed the current measurement of inflation and the effect on real estate investments in the United States. On February 26, 2018, the company and Valley National Bank, the wholly owned subsidiary of Valley National Bancorp, announced the launch of their 5% down payment program which will be given in conjunction with an 80% loan-to-value mortgage. On April 4, 2018, the company released its second annual Home Affordability Report, a comprehensive breakdown of housing affordability in 22 of the largest metro areas across the United States. The report found inequality in housing affordability, not only from city to city but also within cities from one neighborhood to another. On June 1, 2018, The New York Times wrote an article about shared equity programs that called attention to Unison, Landed, and Own Home Finance. On June 26, 2018, announced that it had closed a $40 Million Series B Funding Round. Awards and recognition The company was featured on Bank Innovation's list of "2017 Innovators to Watch". The company was featured in GoBankingRates "10 Startups to Watch in 2018". In 2019, Unison was named to Deloitte's Fast500 as one of the fastest-growing companies in North America, ranking third in the Bay Area and nineteenth overall. Model The Down Payment Resource HPI currently tracks 33 shared equity programs. Most are city/county, non-profit or university administered programs. There are also new programs in high cost markets, like the San Francisco Bay area, designed by private investors to help buyers finance homes that are outside conventional home price limits. The Urban Institute evaluated shared equity programs and found they are successful in linking low- and moderate-income people with affordable owner-occupied housing. In addition, home ownership among shared equity programs is sustainable, and shared equity homeowners resell their homes with the same frequency and for the same reasons as other homeowners. The company's basic business model differs from the traditional financing in that the consumer does not incur debt because there is no monthly payment or interest accrued. Rather, a home ownership investment is a shared piece of capital between the investor and the homeowner. A home ownership investment is financing based on partnership and shared incentives between the homeowner and the investor. In a home ownership investment, an investor provides financing in exchange for the opportunity to share in the gain or loss in the home's value when the homeowner decides to sell