Inside the UBS 2025 Family Office Report: What the Graphs Are Telling Us

Lats updated: June 3, 2026.

TL;DR

The UBS Global Family Office Report 2025 surveyed 317 family offices and found that despite a volatile start to the year, family offices are not making radical shifts. Traditional assets remain 56% of allocations (equities are the largest single slice at 30%), alternatives make up 44%, US family offices show record home bias at 86% of assets domestic, 64% of portfolios are actively managed, and only 53% of family offices have a formal succession plan in place. Healthcare, electrification, generative AI, and energy transition are the top investment themes, but roughly half of family offices are still figuring out how to engage with them.

Key Takeaways

• Family offices held 56% in traditional assets and 44% in alternatives in 2024, with equities at 30% and private equity, direct investments, and real estate leading the alternatives bucket (UBS Global Family Office Report 2025).

• 86% of US family office assets stay on home soil, up from 74% five years ago, and nearly 80% of all family office assets globally are concentrated in North America and Western Europe.

• 64% of family office portfolios are actively managed, rising to 78% in Asia-Pacific and 84% in North Asia.

• 70% of family offices flagged a global trade war as the top 12-month risk, while geopolitical conflict (61%), global recession (53%), and a debt crisis (50%) lead the five-year risk view.

• Only 53% of family offices have a formal succession plan, just 26% involve the next generation from the start, and 35% don't involve them at all.

Introduction

UBS recently dropped its 2025 Global Family Office Report. Most of the survey responses were collected before April’s sharp market sell-off, but follow-up interviews conducted after the turmoil show that despite everything, most family offices aren’t making drastic changes.

Despite a rocky start to the year with volatile markets and intensifying geopolitical risks, the message from 317 of the world’s most influential family offices is clear: they’re not panicking.

As one put it: “We’re sitting tight and waiting for the dust to settle.”

No radical shifts. No knee-jerk reactions. Just a quiet confidence in long-term strategy.

Still, the report is full of interesting findings on everything from asset allocation, investment themes, family office risks, and succession planning.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the most insightful graphs from the UBS report to show you where the world’s family offices are heading.

How Are Family Offices Allocating Assets in 2025?

Family offices held 56% of assets in traditional asset classes (with equities at 30% as the single largest slice) and 44% in alternatives led by private equity, direct investments, and real estate, according to the UBS Global Family Office Report 2025.

In truth, not much has changed at the strategic level. The allocation to equities is up slightly compared to last year from 28% to 30%, but that’s probably more a reflection of market performance than a strategic shift.

Family offices are doubling down on private debt, though. Interest rate hikes have made the asset class more attractive, especially for those hunting for yield in a higher-for-longer environment.

As one family office said: “We’re sticking to our long-term strategic asset allocation while making tactical changes.” And that feels like the perfect summary: committed to the map, but adjusting the route.

Why Is Home Bias So Strong in Family Office Portfolios?

Home bias is strongest in the US, where 86% of family office assets stay domestic (up from 74% five years ago), but the pattern repeats globally, with European family offices allocating 44% to their own region and nearly 80% of all family office assets globally concentrated in North America and Western Europe.

For family offices, proximity still feels like safety.

What Are Family Offices Planning to Buy More Of?

Over the next five years, 46% of family offices plan to increase allocations to developed market equities, with more than a third also planning to lean further into private equity (direct and fund-based), private debt, and emerging market equities (UBS Global Family Office Report 2025).

Real estate, long seen as a defensive asset class, is making a cautious comeback as 29% plan to increase allocation, though 19% say they’ll reduce exposure. Gold and infrastructure are also gaining attention.

Public equities still lead, but private markets are carving out a larger space in the long-term blueprint.

Investment Themes

The top investment themes among family offices in 2025 are healthcare (35% have a clear strategy), electrification (29%), generative AI (27%), and energy transition (27%), though roughly half of family offices are still figuring out how to engage with each theme (UBS Global Family Office Report 2025).

But the chart also shows a curiosity gap. Around half say they’re either unfamiliar with these themes or still figuring out how to engage with them.

Why Do Family Offices Prefer Active Over Passive Management?

64% of family office portfolios are actively managed globally, rising to 78% in Asia-Pacific and 84% in North Asia, because family offices can afford the fees and value the nuance active strategies provide (UBS Global Family Office Report 2025).

In the broader market, passive strategies have grown dominant, driven by cost pressures and access. But not in family offices.

This reflects a unique reality: family offices can afford the fees. And with that, they can afford the nuance. Active strategies allow them to tilt toward preferred geographies, sectors, and values in a way passive doesn’t.

When you’re navigating complexity with capital and conviction, control matters more than cost.

Active management also raises the bar for oversight infrastructure. The more managers, custodians, and asset classes a family office runs, the more critical it becomes to consolidate performance reporting in one place. This is where platforms like Aleta come in, providing a single source of truth across active and passive holdings on the same family balance sheet.

What Are Family Offices Most Worried About in 2025?

70% of family offices named a global trade war as their top concern for the next 12 months, followed by geopolitical conflict (52%), inflation (44%), higher interest rates (33%), and a global recession (33%) (UBS Global Family Office Report 2025).

But looking at the next five years, the top three concerns shift to geopolitical conflict (61%), global recession (53%), and debt crisis (50%). Climate change (48%) and financial crisis (46%) also register high on the long-term worry index.

If the survey were taken today, one suspects geopolitical risk might have topped the 12-month list too. Things change quickly.

Do Family Offices Outsource or Build In-House?

Two-thirds of family offices perform most functions in-house, with 67% citing internal expertise and 63% pointing to operational control and privacy as the main reasons, while outsourcing is approached selectively and only when scale, skill, or cost creates a compelling case (UBS Global Family Office Report 2025).

Where family offices do bring in external infrastructure, technology is the most common category. Modern family office reporting platforms like Aleta let in-house teams retain control and privacy while replacing the manual reconciliation work that used to require additional headcount.

Why Is Family Office Succession Planning Still a Weak Link?

Only 53% of family offices have a formal succession plan (up from 47% in 2024), and just 26% involve the next generation from the start, while 35% do not involve them at all, leaving a significant gap between succession ambition and process (UBS Global Family Office Report 2025).

The most common reason for having no plan? “We’ve got time.” That’s wishful thinking at best. Over a fifth (21%) say the beneficial owner hasn’t decided how to divide wealth. Another fifth (18%) simply haven’t had time to discuss it.

When future leadership is discussed, the conversation rarely includes those expected to lead. Only 26% of family offices consult the next generation from the outset. More than a third (36%) involve them only after speaking with the first generation. And 35% don’t involve them at all.

Meanwhile, expectations are high. Globally, 59% of family offices say next-gen members will have a seat on the board. Among those already serving second or third generations, that figure rises to 70%. But involvement in day-to-day investment management? Just 30%.

Over half (53%) say preparing the next generation to take on wealth responsibly is a challenge.

If the goal is legacy, the process needs to match the ambition. Otherwise, you’re planning for the future while leaving it dangerously undefined.

What the UBS 2025 Report Tells Us About Family Offices Today

The UBS Global Family Office Report 2025 paints a picture of a measured, recalibrating community: family offices are tweaking allocations rather than overhauling them, building resilience through diversification, leaning into active management, and slowly but unevenly addressing the succession gap.

For a community sitting on significant capital, family offices remain refreshingly measured.

Even amid geopolitical tension and volatile markets, their instinct isn’t retreat. The data suggests they’re recalibrating rather than rethinking, and building resilience through diversification, education, and selective innovation.

The future may be uncertain, but their approach is anything but reactive.