Goldman Sachs reported that 39% of surveyed family offices intend to raise allocations to both public and private equity in 2025, reversing a two-year trend of elevated cash positions that followed the 2022 rate shock. The survey, which Goldman conducts annually across its private wealth client base, captured responses from offices managing collective assets exceeding $500 billion. The symmetry is notable: the same proportion plans increases across both equity categories, suggesting coordinated portfolio rebalancing rather than tactical rotation between public and private markets.

Family offices entered 2023 holding cash at levels not seen since the 2008 crisis, with many maintaining liquidity buffers above 25% of total assets. That defensiveness made sense when the Federal Reserve was raising rates at the fastest pace in four decades. Now, with the terminal rate established and inflation declining without recession, offices are moving capital back into risk assets. Goldman's data shows the median family office currently holds 18% in public equities and 32% in private equity, both below historical norms for this cohort. The planned increases would push those figures toward 22% and 38% respectively, returning to allocation patterns last seen in 2021.

The timing reflects institutional confidence that the soft landing is no longer a forecast but a condition. Private equity deployment has accelerated across buyout, growth, and infrastructure strategies, with family offices participating in funds that sat on $2.6 trillion in dry powder at year-end 2024. Public equity interest centers on mega-cap technology and industrial names with pricing power, the same stocks that drove returns in 2023 and 2024. Offices are not chasing momentum; they are acknowledging that duration in equities now offers better risk-adjusted returns than short-term fixed income, which served its purpose during the hiking cycle.

The shift has second-order effects allocators must track. Family offices moving $200 billion into equity markets over twelve months will compress entry multiples in private deals and reduce volatility in public names they favor. Expect continued tightening in Series B through growth-stage venture rounds, where family co-investment syndicates have displaced some institutional LPs. In public markets, sustained buying from non-price-sensitive allocators provides downside support during earnings volatility. Goldman itself benefits directly: the firm's private wealth division generated $1.8 billion in revenue last quarter, and equity underwriting fees correlate tightly with family office deployment cycles.

Operators should watch for three follow-on signals. First, family office direct investment in single-asset deals, which typically follows twelve to eighteen months after fund commitments increase. Second, public equity options activity, as offices hedge newly elevated exposure. Third, real estate allocation decisions, which Goldman's survey showed flat this year. If offices are pulling from cash and fixed income to fund equity increases, real estate stays neutral. If they reduce real estate to fund equities, that is a louder signal about return expectations across asset classes. Data on family office real estate exits should clarify this by mid-Q2.

Northern Trust announced a new family office CIO hire the same week Goldman published its survey, a staffing decision that makes sense only if the firm expects complexity and volume to rise in tandem.