Private equity allocation trends among family offices to 2026

Private equity is the largest alternative holding in family office portfolios, and after three years near a fifth of the portfolio it fell in 2025. UBS data reported by Fortune put the average private equity allocation at 22% in 2023 and 21% in 2024, with respondents planning 18% for 2025. UBS's 2026 report shows it at 17% at the end of 2025, below the 18% respondents had planned, with 17% again planned for 2026. Goldman Sachs's 2025 survey recorded a fall from 26% in 2023 to 21% in 2025, and Citi's 2025 report split a 20% total into 11% in funds and 9% in direct holdings. Within private equity the mix is shifting from blind pool funds towards direct deals, co-investments and secondaries, and the 2025 reduction looks more like the rebalancing of an overweight than a loss of conviction.

The share of the portfolio over time

Sources: as linked. The surveys differ in sample and definition, so the direction within each series matters more than comparison across them.

The fall from 21% to 17% in a single year reflects mechanics as much as decisions. Private equity exposure changes through capital calls, distributions and valuation marks, and in 2025 the first two were roughly balanced. Cambridge Associates' calendar year 2025 commentary records US private equity distributions of $185bn, up 5%, against contributions of $145bn, down nearly 10%, and notes that the distribution yield remained below average for a fourth consecutive year. With distributions slow and public equities rising, much of the change in the private equity weight comes from the denominator rather than from sales or new commitments, a problem explored in the distributions drought.

Direct versus funds

Citi's 2025 data give the clearest split: 11% of the average portfolio in private equity funds and 9% in direct private equity, with 70% of respondents investing directly. Within fund and direct holdings combined, growth equity was 28% of private equity exposure, buyout 21%, venture capital 19%, funds of funds 12% and secondaries 10%. For direct deals, 52% favoured growth stage rounds, 37% early stage and 30% secondary transactions. Campden Wealth's 2025 Asia-Pacific report shows a more fund heavy mix in Asia: 12% in private equity funds, 4% in direct private equity and 5% in venture. Campden's North American report found direct private equity the most popular asset class for new investment, while funds remained the largest holding within private markets. Goldman found 72% of its respondents investing in secondaries, up from 60% in 2023. The skills and costs of going direct are covered in family office direct investing in 2026.

Returns and the case for the allocation

The return record for 2025 was mixed. Cambridge Associates' US private equity index returned 8.7% for the calendar year, with growth equity at 11.9% and buyouts at 7.6%, and the commentary notes that private equity trailed public markets in most periods under ten years. US venture capital returned 21.1%, its best year since 2021, with wide dispersion by vintage: 2017 to 2024 vintages ranged from 9.4% to 50.5%. Campden Wealth's Asia-Pacific respondents reported 8% from private equity funds and 8% from direct private equity in 2024, against 18% from developed market equities. These figures explain why allocations have come down from the peak while 39% of Goldman's respondents still plan to add: the asset class is being resized, and the money is moving towards segments with better recent dispersion and shorter duration.

What offices plan for 2026

UBS's 2026 respondents plan to hold private equity at 17%, the lowest level in its recent series, while UBS's 2025 release had 44% of families planning to increase private equity over five years, so the near-term pause and the long-term intention point in different directions. Secondaries are part of the answer for offices that want to reduce an overweight: Jefferies' July 2026 review records LP portfolio pricing at about 87% of net asset value on average and 91% for buyout, with family offices accounting for 5% of LP volume sold in the first half of 2026. The state of that market is covered in the private equity secondaries market in 2026.

The trend, then, is a step down from the peak rather than a retreat. Private equity remains the largest alternative holding at about a sixth of the average family office portfolio, direct holdings and secondaries are taking share from traditional funds, and whether the weight holds at 17% depends on distributions and valuations that offices do not fully control.