The investment manager KINGSTONE Investment Management (KINGSTONE IM) today presented its second KINGSTONE Family Office Real Estate Report 2026, which was produced in collaboration with RUECKER EVENT’s Family Office Real Estate Day. As part of the survey, 34 family offices from the DACH region were questioned about their property investment strategies.
The key findings: Property remains by far the largest asset class in family portfolios. Its share will stand at 53.7 per cent in 2026. This represents a slight decline compared with 2025, when the property share stood at 56.5 per cent (-2.8 percentage points). Equities remain the second most important asset class, accounting for 19.6 per cent of portfolios. The equity allocation has hardly changed compared with the previous year (+0.2 percentage points).
Dr Tim Schomberg, CEO of KINGSTONE IM, comments: “The 2026 survey confirms the findings of our last survey a year ago: property is and remains the backbone and the most important asset class for high-net-worth families. With more than 50 per cent of their assets, family offices are significantly more heavily invested in property than institutional investors.”
Share of German property plummets
With a 76.5 per cent share of property assets, Germany remains the most important location for property investment. However, compared with 2025, exposure to Germany has been significantly reduced. By way of comparison, in 2025, 88.3 per cent of property assets were still held in Germany. This represents a decline of 11.8 percentage points within a year. By contrast, the allocation to other European countries has increased to 12.6 per cent (+6.7 percentage points) and to the US to 9.0 per cent (+3.6 percentage points).
Philipp Schomberg, co-founder of KINGSTONE IM and CEO Poland, explains: “The results on country allocation confirm what we are observing in discussions with clients. Whilst Germany remains an important investment market, interest in overseas property is growing. Many family offices have a very heavy allocation to Germany and are seeking greater diversification of their property portfolios. Poland and the UK, in particular, are frequently mentioned by our clients.”
Residential remains the most important property sector
In terms of the distribution of property use types, residential remains the most important asset class, accounting for 37 per cent of all properties. Office comes second with 22.7 per cent, although the share of office space has fallen slightly compared with the previous year (-2.3 percentage points). In third place are mixed-use residential and commercial properties at 13.5 per cent, followed by retail properties in fourth place at 12.1 per cent. It is striking that the share of retail property has risen very significantly year-on-year (+5.8 percentage points).
Expectations regarding returns on property investments vary widely in some cases. They range from 4.0 to more than 10.0 per cent total return per annum. “The largest group comprises 35.3 per cent of respondents, who expect a total return of between 5.5 and 7.0 per cent per annum. A further quarter of respondents expect a total return of 7.0 to 8.5 per cent per annum,” explains Dr Tim Schomberg.
What are family offices’ plans regarding their property holdings for the coming twelve months? On balance, more respondents want to expand their property exposure than reduce it. Philipp Schomberg elaborates on the details: “Around a third intend to keep their property exposure constant. For around 41 per cent, the property portfolio is set to grow slightly or significantly. This contrasts with around 26 per cent of respondents who wish to reduce their exposure slightly or significantly.”
How much capital is set to flow into property and infrastructure over the next three years? Around 40 per cent (38.2 per cent) stated that they intend to invest between 5.0 and 10.0 million euros in property each year over the next three years. Around a quarter (23.5 per cent) intend to invest between 10 and 20 million euros per annum. And around 15 per cent (14.7 per cent) stated that they intend to invest between 20 and 50 million euros in property. Dr Tim Schomberg explains: “Overall, the volumes to be invested annually over the next three years have fallen slightly. Only 5.9 per cent intend to invest large sums – between 50 and 100 million euros per annum. No family office stated that it intended to invest more than 100 million euros per annum in property.”
Methodology
The survey was conducted from 1 September to 22 October 2026 by KINGSTONE IM in cooperation with the Family Office Real Estate Day organised by RUECKER EVENT. A total of 34 family offices took part in the survey. 35.3 per cent of respondents manage net assets of more than 500 million euros, whilst a further 35.3 per cent manage between 100 and 500 million euros. A total of 1,450 family offices were contacted. The response rate was 2.34 per cent.
The results reflect the prevailing sentiment amongst the participating family offices and, given the sample size, do not claim to be representative.
