59% of family offices plan to increase private equity exposure

Fifty-nine percent of family offices plan to increase private equity exposure in the next one to three years, the highest share among alternative asset classes in Bank of America's 2026 study. Venture capital drew plans to add exposure from 51% of offices, private real estate 47%, hedge funds 41% and private credit 41%.

Of the offices surveyed, 51% name private equity as one of today's biggest wealth-creation opportunities, more than any other category, with direct investment in companies second at 38%. Among offices with $500 million to $1 billion, 59% name private equity as a top opportunity. Alternatives Watch first reported the study, Building for Generations, on Oct. 20.

For allocators, the fund-direct split defines the diligence job: 59.4% of family-office alternatives exposure sits in funds and 40.6% in direct investments. A private equity sleeve benchmarked against this cohort is mostly fund selection and terms comparison; the direct book is a separate job inside the office.

Private equity already occupies the biggest share of the alternatives book, 27.2% on average. Private real estate follows at 18.6%, then venture capital at 16.2%, hedge funds at 14.3% and private credit at 9.9%. Alternatives overall account for 37.7% of the average total portfolio, so private equity is roughly a tenth of the total portfolio.

Offices most often source direct deals through private equity firms (44%), family member networks (41%) and investment banks (38%). Still, 86% say building ties with other family offices matters for finding investments, and 67% say other family offices often have better opportunities than private equity funds.

Offices under $500 million put 37.5% of their alternatives exposure into direct investments, compared with 43.9% at offices with $500 million to $1 billion and 42.8% at those with $1 billion or more. A CEO of an office managing $1 billion to $5 billion said in the study that the office is "really keen to team up with other family offices on co-investments in private credit and direct real estate deals."