Investments spring back to life
Compared with a 0.3% return achieved in 2015, family office portfolios produced a stronger performance of 7.0% last year, largely driven by encouraging results within developed-market equities and the ongoing strength of private equity.
Equities taking bigger portion of the pie
In keeping with a trend observed over the past four years, equities represented a substantial share of investments made by family offices. After a year of improved investment performance, allocations to this asset class rose even further to account for over a quarter (27.1%) of the average family office portfolio. Investment in equities in developed-markets drove this shift, rising 2.5% among multi-year participants in the year to 2017. Meanwhile, levels of investment into developing-markets equities remained relatively unchanged, at 7.8% (down -0.1%, among multi-year participants).
North America leads the pack
North American family offices performed the best globally (7.7%), due to their relatively lower allocations to real estate, which achieved a weaker performance in 2016, in favour of equities and private equity.
