Family offices managing an estimated $4.7 trillion in global assets plan to materially increase risk exposure and alternative allocations through 2026, according to new survey data from Ocorian, the institutional services firm. The shift marks a coordinated exit from defensive cash positions held since late 2022, with principals directing capital toward private equity, real assets, and structured credit at the fastest pace since pre-pandemic.
The Ocorian survey, fielded across 240 family offices in North America, Europe, and Asia between November and January, shows 68 percent of respondents intend to raise equity allocations in the next twelve months. 53 percent plan to add private-market exposure specifically, with direct co-investments and separately managed accounts favored over traditional fund commitments. Cash allocations, which averaged 18 percent of portfolios in Q4 2024, are expected to compress toward 11 percent by year-end 2026. The reallocation velocity is faster than the 2019 cycle, when family offices took nineteen months to achieve similar positioning changes.
The pivot reflects two structural shifts. First, the Federal Reserve's rate-cut cycle has eliminated the 5.3 percent risk-free yield available in 2023, forcing principals to accept duration or equity beta for comparable returns. Second, family offices are responding to compressed private-market valuations, with buyout funds trading at 0.82x NAV in the secondaries market as of January, the widest discount since March 2020. Allocators see the current environment as a rare simultaneously discounted entry point across venture, growth equity, and infrastructure, particularly in sectors where public-market comps have already re-rated.
What makes this cycle distinct is the emergence of family offices as net sellers in the secondaries boom, a reversal documented in recent Crain Currency reporting. Offices that built private portfolios in 2017-2021 are now harvesting liquidity at 12-17 percent IRRs by selling LP stakes into the $150 billion secondaries market, then redeploying into newer vintage funds at lower entry multiples. This recycling mechanic, once the domain of pension funds, has become standard practice among offices managing north of $500 million. The Ocorian data shows 41 percent of surveyed offices executed at least one secondary sale in 2024, up from 19 percent in 2022.
Operators and allocators should watch three specific catalysts. Private-market fundraising velocity will accelerate in Q2 2026 as family offices commit dry powder, with buyout funds likely to see $85-110 billion in family-office-sourced commitments, per Preqin's forward models. Separately managed account structures will gain share, as offices demand fee concessions and co-investment rights unavailable in commingled funds. Finally, real-asset allocations—timber, farmland, infrastructure debt—will likely exceed 9 percent of family-office portfolios by Q4 2026, driven by inflation-hedging demand and the maturation of institutional-grade vehicles in the space.
The multi-family office segment is expanding in parallel, with 190 new MFO platforms launched globally since January 2023, according to With Intelligence's latest asset-pool report. These platforms are capturing $340 billion in assets from single-family offices seeking operational scale without sacrificing control, creating a new intermediary layer between principals and fund managers. The growth of this infrastructure suggests the current reallocation cycle has at least eighteen months of runway before positioning stabilizes.
The takeaway
Family offices are exiting cash at historic speed, targeting private markets at decade-low entry multiples while recycling legacy positions through secondaries.
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