UBS's 2026 survey of 307 family offices shows a measured shift toward resilience, regional and currency diversification, infrastructure and selective long-term themes.
Family-office portfolios are changing in 2026, but the evidence points to measured diversification rather than a wholesale flight from public markets. UBS surveyed 307 family offices across more than 30 markets, with average family net worth of US$2.7 billion, and found resilience, geographic diversification and long-term thematic exposure at the centre of allocation decisions.
What are family offices changing in 2026?
UBS reports that 60% of surveyed family offices plan changes to strategic asset allocation over the next 12 months. Developed markets remain the backbone of portfolios, while some offices are looking to increase exposure to emerging-market equities and selected alternatives such as infrastructure and gold. The important point is that the shift is incremental: families are broadening sources of return and resilience rather than abandoning liquid markets.
Currency diversification is becoming a strategic issue
Currency exposure is receiving more board-level attention. In the UBS survey, 65% of family offices expected confidence in the US dollar's reserve-currency status to weaken, and many were reassessing concentrated USD exposure. For internationally mobile families, this does not automatically imply a bearish dollar view; it reinforces the case for matching assets, liabilities, spending and liquidity across the currencies that actually matter to the family.
AI remains a major theme — but infrastructure matters too
Artificial intelligence remains the leading investment theme in the UBS research, with 65% of family offices already invested across the AI value chain. Power and resources and infrastructure were each identified by 37% of respondents as important themes. For a family office, that makes concentration analysis important: listed equities, private funds, data-centre infrastructure and operating businesses can all express versions of the same underlying AI thesis.
What should a family office review?
Rather than copying an industry-average allocation, a family office can use the 2026 data as a prompt for its own investment-committee review: where is geographic concentration highest, which risks repeat across apparently different assets, how much liquidity is genuinely available under stress, and whether currency exposure reflects future family obligations.
APX Perspective
The useful signal in 2026 is not a single percentage allocation to private markets, equities or real assets. It is the move toward portfolio resilience: more deliberate diversification by geography and currency, closer scrutiny of concentrated themes, and investment structures that reflect the family's own liquidity horizon and governance.
Sources & Further Reading
APX Intelligence is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or financial advice. Asset-allocation decisions should reflect the family's objectives, liquidity needs, risk tolerance and professional advice.
