The 2026 APX Family Office Intelligence Survey, conducted across 180 single-family offices with aggregate AUM exceeding $340 billion, reveals a structural shift in capital allocation that has significant implications for private markets across every asset class.
The Rotation Out of Public Equities
Average public equity allocation among surveyed family offices has declined from 38% to 29% over the past 24 months. The drivers are well-understood: compressed risk premia, correlation convergence during stress events, and the growing availability of private market alternatives offering superior risk-adjusted returns with lower mark-to-market volatility.
This is not a tactical shift — it reflects a generational change in how ultra-high-net-worth families think about wealth preservation versus wealth creation.
Private Credit: The Dominant Theme
Private credit now represents the single largest area of new allocation, with 67% of surveyed offices increasing exposure over the past 12 months. Senior secured direct lending, particularly in the lower middle market where bank retreat has created structural supply-demand imbalance, is the preferred sub-strategy.
Yields of 10-14% on senior secured paper, with covenant packages that would have been unachievable in the pre-2022 rate environment, have made private credit the most compelling risk-adjusted opportunity in a generation.
Real Assets and Direct Co-Investment
Infrastructure, farmland, and timber continue to attract allocations as inflation-linked, cash-yielding real assets. More significantly, direct co-investment alongside established private equity sponsors — bypassing fund fees while maintaining access to deal flow — has become a defining capability of the most sophisticated family offices.
APX members receive access to our quarterly Capital Allocation Intelligence Report, including deal-by-deal co-investment opportunities sourced through our verified connector network.
