Family offices in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region have taken a more defensive stance in portfolio construction than their counterparts in the Americas and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), allocating more towards cash and less to alternatives.
According to Goldman Sachs’ 2025 Family Office Investment Insights report, APAC investors have allocated 19 per cent of their portfolios to cash and cash equivalents.
This is compared to 8 per cent in the Americas and 10 per cent within the EMEA region. Meanwhile cash holdings remain stable globally at 12 per cent.
At the same time, total alternatives formed a smaller part of the APAC portfolio, with family offices in the region allocating 36 per cent (including private equity, private credit, real estate and hedge funds) when compared to 46 per cent in both the Americas and EMEA.
Goldman Sachs noted that family offices often use cash as a “barbell approach” alongside illiquid holdings, giving them the ability to act quickly on opportunities while maintaining exposure to long-term investments.
Beyond cash, APAC allocations into public equities stood at 30 per cent, broadly in line with the Americas (31 per cent) and EMEA (32 per cent). However, regional contrasts in private equity allocations were sharper, where the Americas lead with 25 per cent, followed by EMEA at 22 per cent and APAC at 15 per cent.
The report observed that private equity commitments regionally have slowed amid muted exit activity, but many family offices remain committed to the asset class, particularly in the United States where allocations are highest.
Globally, one of the most striking shifts since the 2023 survey has been the renewed preference for listed equities. Allocation to public equities rose to 31 per cent, returning to 2021 levels after dipping two years earlier.
Goldman highlighted the role of technology, observing that “a secular growth theme with tremendous impact on public equities has been AI, particularly when looking at megacap technology names”.
On the other hand, private equity has slipped globally, falling from 22 per cent in 2023 to 21 per cent in 2025, however, Goldman Sachs suggested that this reduction has been “more modest than expected”, with the lack distributions “perhaps helping to put a floor under private equity portfolio weights”.
“Nonetheless, this trend has already begun to reverse course with an increase in IPO and M&A activity.”
Total alternatives allocations as a whole remain the largest globally, sitting at 42 per cent in 2025.
