Asset allocation · October 2026

How family offices hold real estate, and why they are holding less

UBS surveyed 307 family offices for its Global Family Office Report 2026. Real estate is one of the assets they plan to reduce. What the figures show, and the three ways a family can hold property.

The figures

8%of the portfolio planned for real estate in 2026, among family offices making changes
11%held in real estate in 2025
14%held in real estate in 2019
60%plan to change their strategic asset allocation in the next twelve months, the highest share UBS has recorded
17%of the families surveyed have real estate as their main operating business
USD 2.7 billionaverage net worth of the families surveyed

Why the allocation is falling

UBS explains the reduction partly by property's recent performance against other assets, and by a near-term outlook that has favoured other investments. The report shows them tilting towards emerging-market equities and infrastructure and considering more gold, while developed-market equities remain their largest holding. UBS also notes that the allocation to real estate remains sizeable.

The portfolio figure understates how much property many families own. For 17% of the families surveyed, real estate is the main operating business, and that property usually sits in the family's companies, outside the investment portfolio the survey measures.

Three ways to hold property

	Direct ownership	Private fund	REIT
What the family owns	The property, usually through a company	A share of a fund that owns several properties	Units in a listed company or trust that owns a portfolio
Who runs it	The family, or a manager it appoints	The fund manager	The REIT's managers
Selling	A sale of the property, over weeks or months	At set dates, or at the end of the fund's life	On any day the exchange is open
How it is valued	Recent sales of similar properties	Periodic valuations by the manager	The unit price, every trading day
Income	The rent, after costs	Distributions decided by the manager	Dividends paid from rental income

Most family offices hold property directly, from single apartments to whole buildings, and many add funds, REIT units and co-investments with other families. In the UAE, Dubai Residential REIT, listed on the Dubai Financial Market in May 2025 with about 35,700 homes, gives an example of the listed route.

Where we would start

Decide first what property is for in the family's wealth: income, preserving capital, a home for the family, or all three. The answer shapes everything after it.

Then decide which entity holds each property, and where. Property held in a family member's own name passes through that person's estate. Property held through a holding company or a foundation can pass according to rules the family sets in advance, and the family office can manage it alongside the rest of the family's assets.

Keep the records for every property current: title deeds, leases, service charges and valuations. A bank, a buyer or a successor will ask for them, and the families that hold them in order are the ones that can act quickly when a good opportunity appears.

About the survey: UBS surveyed 307 family offices in more than 30 markets between January and March 2026. The 2026 figures are the planned allocations of the family offices that intend to change their strategic allocation.

Source: UBS, Global Family Office Report 2026, published May 2026. Dubai Residential REIT, listing announcements, May 2025.

Terms used here are explained in our glossary.

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