Family Offices' Private-Market Allocations Surge 524%

The number of family offices with private-market allocations rose 524% between 2016 and the first half of 2025, from 651 to 4,067, according to Preqin data reported by CNBC's Inside Wealth newsletter. That increase tops both other categories Preqin tracks: wealth management firms, up 410%, and endowments and foundations, up 81%. Preqin is the alternatives data platform owned by BlackRock.

The growth is compounding. Preqin's count rose nearly 21% in 2023, about 26% in 2024, and another 8% in the first half of 2025. BlackRock's Armando Senra, who leads the firm's institutional business in the Americas, says the activity tracks a broader investor turn toward private credit and infrastructure. A BlackRock survey this spring found nearly a third of single-family offices planned to increase those allocations from 2025 through 2026.

Part of the explanation is sheer scale. Deloitte puts family-office assets at $3.1 trillion in 2024, up 63% from 2019. PwC's Jonathan Flack told CNBC that the typical family office faces no redemption schedule, invests across generations, and can let private holdings sit through public-market swings. That structure makes illiquidity less a cost than a tool.

Yet selectivity is rising. UBS's May survey found family offices planned to add private debt in 2025 while trimming private equity in favor of developed-market equities, with U.S. offices expecting the steepest reduction. Preqin's big participation numbers and UBS's trimmed allocations point the same way: more family offices are in the private markets, but the new money is going to debt and infrastructure, not buyout funds.