Goldman Sachs released survey data showing 39% of family offices globally plan to raise allocations to both public and private equity in the coming twelve months, the highest percentage since the firm began tracking the cohort in 2019. The tilt marks a structural shift for a group that spent the past thirty-six months rotating into cash, fixed income, and hard assets as central banks repriced risk-free rates.
The survey polled 387 single-family offices controlling an aggregate $1.1 trillion in assets under management across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Of those planning to increase equity exposure, 62% cited improved risk-adjusted return expectations in private markets, while 54% pointed to narrowing valuation spreads between public and private equivalents. Average family office equity allocation currently sits at 31%, split roughly evenly between listed and unlisted positions. That figure has held flat since Q2 2023, even as institutional allocators reduced equity by 4.2 percentage points over the same window.
The shift matters because family offices move capital with different friction than endowments or pension funds. They hold no external liability schedule, no quarterly redemption risk, and no regulatory pressure to mark-to-market. When they tilt, they tilt for years. The last comparable survey shift—34% planning increases in Q4 2020—preceded a twenty-six-month run in private equity deployment that saw dry powder fall 18% industry-wide. This time, the backdrop is tighter: credit spreads have compressed 110 basis points since October, the VIX trades below 14, and private equity fund closes for 2024 came in 22% below the prior-year total, per Preqin. Family offices are stepping in where institutional capital hesitated.
The timing aligns with another structural change: the professionalization of family office investment operations. 41% of surveyed offices now employ dedicated private markets teams, up from 29% three years ago. Co-investment activity rose 19% year-over-year, and 23% of respondents reported running at least one direct deal in the past eighteen months. The apparatus is built. The allocations follow.
Operators and allocators should watch three follow-on signals in the next six months. First, whether family office co-investment allocations rise faster than fund commitments, which would indicate selective deployment rather than broad beta exposure. Second, whether the tilt shows geographic concentration—early data suggests North American offices are moving faster than European counterparts. Third, whether this realignment pressures institutional LPs to match pace or risk missing entry points in oversubscribed processes. That dynamic played out in late 2021 and reshaped fundraising for sixteen months.
Goldman noted that 68% of family offices expect private equity to outperform public equities over the next five years, the highest reading in the survey's history. The conviction is priced in liquidity, not sentiment.