How family offices are adapting capital deployment in uncertain times

Family offices across the world have long been entrusted with preserving and maintaining generational wealth. But they’re now advancing beyond this traditional role as they expand the scope of their investments and deals. This broader perspective is evident both in terms of the asset classes they invest in and in the geographical reach of those investments. In line with these shifts, family offices are also becoming increasingly professionalised and specialised in their investment strategies and processes. The common driver? The desire to boost returns. At root, a family office is a business like any other, mandated with generating sufficient profits to fulfil its core purpose and goals – whatever these may be.

In this annual analysis, we provide a detailed snapshot of the transactional behaviour of family offices in deals of all types. The full report – which is available for download here  – once again underlines their growing influence and importance in the global economy and investment environment. 

As family office expand their horizons, the term itself is evolving. Traditionally, they have been categorised rather simplistically into single family offices (SFOs), multi-family offices (MFOs), embedded family offices (EFOs), and virtual family offices (VFOs). For the purposes of this report, our definition of Family Office reflects real world practice where families execute their deals both in a separate family office aggregated within an operating business holding company or through other venture or philanthropic fields. In each case, the common factor is that family wealth funds these entities.

Furthermore, contrary to the belief that family offices are homogeneous and typically created through a “cash event” like a company sale, our research shows that only 14% of them result from such events. For the remaining 86%, the original family business is still active as a source of wealth. Also, in terms of ownership, the single biggest grouping – 31% of family offices – are owned by businesspeople, family entrepreneurs or industrial dynasties, while only 12% are owned by heirs.

Our analysis of over 20,000 family offices shows that 75% of the current global cohort were established since 2001, and 50% since 2012. So, in general, they are still relatively young entities.

Our analysis, which you can read in detail in this report, is based on our unique proprietary database that now includes more than 20,000 family offices globally. Here are just some of the key trends we identified:

1. Total investment activity by family offices globally peaked in H2 2021 at 17,460 deals and US$1,054.5bn invested, since when both figures have generally trended downwards. Most recently, a renewed downturn in H1 2025 has taken overall family office deal volume down to below 7,200 – its lowest total in the decade – and deal value down to US$439.6bn.
2. Over the past decade, family offices have increasingly favoured venture capital, whose share of their total investments rose from 17% in H2 2015 to 38% in H1 2022, and remained at a healthy 31% in H1 2025. 
3. Over the same ten-year period, the share of family office investments going into real estate has largely drifted downwards from a high point of 48% in H2 2015, dipping as low as 26% in H2 2023. However, H1 2025 saw real estate’s share of total family office investment rebound to 39%, its highest since H2 2019.
4. Family offices continue to favour “club deals” – where they invest alongside others – as opposed to “sole deals”. The share of “club deals” in their transaction flows rose from 58% in H2 2015 to a peak of 75% in H1 2023. In H1 2025 “club deals” remained the dominant deal structure, accounting for 69% of family office investments,.
5. From July 2023 to June 2025, the top two target sectors in terms of both volume and value for family offices’ private equity investments were software and commercial services.
6. Family offices’ direct investments/M&A deals have fluctuated widely throughout the past decade in both volume and value. This unstable pattern has continued into H1 2025, with both volume and value falling significantly from the levels seen in H2 2024.
7. The volume of family office funds investments peaked at 2,871 in H2 2021, but then dropped sharply to just 186 transactions in H1 2025. Aggregate deal value has also been highly volatile, peaking at US$217.9bn in H2 2021 but slumping to US$25.5bn in H1 2025.  All of this points to family offices committing less investments to funds.
8. Deal volumes in family office real estate investments hit an all-time high of 5,193 in H2 2021 but slipped to 2,804 by H1 2025. Similarly, aggregate deal value also peaked in H2 2021, at US$143.1bn, before declining to US$54.8bn by H1 2025. Both statistics indicate a scaled-down investment approach to the real estate sector.

Once again, PwC’s research this year underlines that family offices are continuing to evolve as organisations and rethink their remit in response to developments in different asset classes and the effects of a more uncertain global environment. Against this backdrop, our main takeaways from this year’s analysis are:

1. The global landscape of family offices has been dramatically transformed since the turn of the century in both size and scope. However, despite witnessing a strong uptick that included the creation of more than 900 new family offices in 2021 alone, the rate of growth in the number of family offices has slowed noticeably in recent years, with only 190 new offices set up worldwide in 2024.
2. North America commands a leading position as the principal national hub for family offices, hosting over 7,800 offices managing the highest average assets, valued at some US$2.9bn. This dominant position is followed by Europe, with more than 6,600 offices, and Asia with 3,900 offices, reflecting robust global financial management of family wealth.
3. In terms of cities, Singapore emerges as the world’s metropolitan epicentre for family offices. The city-state hosts more than 2.5 times the number of family offices located in New York City, and exceeds London’s count by more than three times, underlining its strategic importance in the global wealth management sector.
4. In H1 2025, while family offices saw a 23.2% reduction in investments and a 20.4% decline in exits compared to H2 2024, their aggregate sales revenues surged by a remarkable 97.4% compared to H1 2023. This clearly indicates a strategic focus on closing more profitable deals despite reduced market activity.
5. Since mid-2024, family offices have re-oriented their investment strategies towards real estate, which now constitutes 39% of their portfolio allocations. This strategic shift reflects a preference for more stable investment options over riskier ventures such as startups and private equity.
6. While family offices remain key investors in sectors like venture capital, debt financing, and real estate, their participation in global M&A transactions is relatively modest, accounting for only 5% of overall deal value between July 2024 and June 2025. This relatively small share of activity underlines their strategic shift towards more stable and secure investment alternatives.
7. Over the past decade, family offices have progressively engaged in larger financial transactions. Since mid-2015, their involvement in medium-sized and large deals has increased by a noteworthy 11 percentage points, pointing both to increased resource capabilities and a strategic shift towards broadening and diversifying their investment portfolios.
8. Family offices in North America have shown a marked increase in domestic transactions, rising from 8,792 deals in 2023/24 to 9,110 in 2024/25. Conversely, the volume of in-market transactions within Europe has declined, highlighting North American family offices’ stronger preference for domestic investments. Meanwhile, cross-border deal activity has decreased globally but has exhibited a modest uptick in regions such as the Pacific and Latin America, suggesting a move to a more nuanced diversification strategy.

The overall message? Far from their traditional image as conservative and risk-averse, family offices are showing themselves to be increasingly agile and forward-thinking investors, constantly seeking out and pursuing new opportunities for value creation. In a more uncertain world, they’re focusing on the future – and looking to tap into the new and growing pools of value it will offer.