Family offices and real estate 2026: Why German residential remains in demand

1. Globally: family offices are reallocating

The UBS Global Family Office Report 2026 is based on a survey of 307 family offices in more than 30 markets with average wealth of USD 2.7bn. Its finding: on the global average, real estate is losing weight. At the same time, the willingness to reallocate is at a record high: 60% of respondents plan to change their strategic allocation, 67% in Europe.

Regional allocations differ markedly: 20% in the US, 12% in Switzerland, 11% in Europe. Notably, real estate is also the most common origin of family wealth: 17% of the family offices surveyed name real estate as the sector of their core operating business, ahead of consumer goods (11%) and banking (10%).

The table puts the falling real estate allocation into perspective. Only 11% see a real estate correction as one of the top risks over the next twelve months, 17% over five years. Family offices are mainly concerned about geopolitics, trade and inflation, and let real assets have traditionally been a hedge against inflation and uncertainty.

2. German-speaking region: real estate is the backbone

For family offices from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the KINGSTONE Family Office Real Estate Report 2025 paints a different picture. Among the 32 houses surveyed, 43.8% of which manage net wealth of more than €500m, real estate accounts for 56.5% of wealth and equities for 19.4%. KINGSTONE itself notes that family offices invest fundamentally differently from classic institutional investors.

Besides direct acquisitions, co-investments are common: 59.4% of respondents invest in joint ventures with another family office, 40.6% in club deals. Special funds with institutional investors attract little interest. For sellers this means that larger properties can also go to family offices when several families join forces.

Their plans also diverge from the global trend. Half of respondents want to grow their real estate holdings slightly over the next twelve months (up to 10%), 9.4% plan strong growth, a quarter want to keep the allocation stable and only 15.7% want to reduce it. German existing residential is on the shopping list of 60%, new-build residential of 50%. Roland Berger’s family office study 2026 confirms the central role: 97% of respondents hold real estate, up from 92%.

3. What family offices really want when buying

The KINGSTONE study shows the criteria family offices decide by. The decisive factors are the attractiveness of the location, existing experience with the use type and capital preservation. Respondents rate these as more important than yield. Reputation, emotional and architectural aspects play hardly any role. KINGSTONE sums up that family offices decide very rationally and rather conservatively.

4. Which properties suit which family office

Comparing these return expectations with NRW market data gives a clear picture. We derived the net initial yields for apartment buildings in our analysis of purchase price multiples from the 2026 property market reports.

For the yield-oriented quarter, average initial yields are not enough. These family offices look for properties whose return can be raised through new lettings, refurbishment or better management. This is exactly where the 25% to 44% gap between the rents of buildings sold and asking rents that we measured across the seven cities comes in. In addition, Essen, Duisburg, Bochum, Herne and Oberhausen are not subject to the rent cap.

One important point: family offices often finance with a high equity share. For them, the comparison with the recent loan rate of around 4% is less decisive than for leveraged buyers, which is precisely why they can buy in Düsseldorf, where the net initial yield is below financing costs.

5. Visible in the market

Transaction data shows that family offices are buying. According to BNP Paribas Real Estate, private investors and family offices acquired residential portfolios of 30+ units worth €270m in Q1 2026. The ten-year average is around €170m, so the result was around 60% higher. JLL already observed in 2025 that family offices and private investors increasingly used the market cycle to acquire core properties.

This matches the development Colliers describes for 2025: in mixed residential and commercial buildings, where private and semi-institutional buyers dominate, volume rose by 13%, while the institutional segment fell by 14%. Family offices are among the buyers carrying the market in this phase.

6. How to sell to a family office

As buyers, family offices differ considerably from funds or housing companies. From our experience, four points are decisive:

• Access: family offices rarely appear in public and prefer to buy through personal contacts. A portal listing hardly reaches them.
• Discretion: many families attach importance to their purchases not becoming public. A confidential process is often a precondition.
• Decision paths: decisions are often taken in a small circle and with a high equity share. This makes family offices fast and reliable buyers when the documents are right.
• Long-term view: family offices buy to hold. They pay more attention to building fabric, tenant structure and location than to short-term yield optimisation.