Family Offices Plan More Infrastructure and Private Equity, a Survey of 206 Finds: 30% Will Raise Infrastructure and 32% Private Equity

A 2026 survey of 206 single-family offices across the Americas, which together hold an estimated $491 billion of investable assets, found that 30% plan to increase infrastructure allocations over the next 12 months and 6% plan to reduce them. For private equity, 32% plan to increase. The survey ran from 13 July to 24 August 2026 and was published in the week of 21 October. For a GP, the more useful findings are how newer and older offices differ in what they want.

Where the appetite is

On our arithmetic, 30% of 206 is about 62 offices raising infrastructure and 6% is about 12 cutting, a net 24 points in favour of increases. The split by age matters: 38% of newer offices plan to raise infrastructure against 16% of established ones. In private equity, 52% allocate more than 15% of their alternatives portfolio to it. The same respondents are cautious on the way out, with 76% citing the exit environment and 50% citing valuations as main challenges to private equity returns.

Secondaries for new offices, co-investments for old

Newer offices prefer secondaries: 45% of them, against 28% of older offices. Established offices lean the other way on co-investments, preferred by 75% of them against 60% of newer offices. For a GP, that suggests a co-investment sleeve is the easier opening with an established family office, while a newer one may respond better to a secondaries or continuation structure. We read that as an inference, and the survey does not link preferences to a manager's fund type. See our entries on secondary transactions and co-investment.

Governance is the top challenge

Governance and decision-making were named the single greatest challenge by 28% of offices, ahead of target returns at 24%. About 65% report limited or no involvement of the next generation in investment decisions, though 38% say the next generation is more willing to take risk and 22% say it is more conservative. A fund manager is therefore often pitching a decision process that is still being formalised. Only 30% of offices describe their governance as highly formalised, 34% as moderately structured, 23% as informal and 13% as still evolving.

How this fits the trend

This is the third family office survey we have covered this month. An earlier study found 26% of family offices plan to add private equity while 46% raised public equity, and another found 86% of North American family offices invest in private markets, with direct deals outweighing funds. The surveys differ in sample and wording, so the percentages are not directly comparable, but the direction on infrastructure and private equity is consistent.

What a GP can take from it

Our advice, not the survey's: lead with the exit story, since three in four offices worry about it, and offer a co-investment or secondaries route that matches the office's age. Our page on family offices lists who is active, and FundLinx members can find family offices that match your strategy.

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