• • Almost 90 percent of the real estate assets are located in Germany
  • Nearly two out of three respondents are planning to increase their real estate ratios
  • Acquisition plans focus primarily on residential real estate in Germany
  • Direct investments are strongly preferred
  • Sentiment survey among 32 family offices from the DACH region

Munich, 16 October 2025 – Today, investment manager KINGSTONE Real Estate (“KINGSTONE RE”) presented its KINGSTONE Family Office Real Estate Report 2025. It is based on a survey among 32 family offices from the DACH region who were asked about their real estate investment strategy. These are the key findings: Real estate forms the backbone among their net assets. On average, more than half – 56.5 percent – is attributable to real estate. The second-most important asset class are stocks, accounting for 19.4 percent. All other asset classes, such as cash or bonds, are weighted significantly lower. “Family offices take a fundamentally different investment approach than classic institutional investors, whose real estate ratios are far lower. This matches our takeaways from business meetings,” commented Dr. Tim Schomberg, CEO and co-founder of KINGSTONE RE.

Another peculiarity: Family offices tend to invest in real estate directly. Among the respondents, 81.4 percent of the real estate assets represent direct investments. Also popular are joint ventures with other family offices (59.4 percent of the respondents) or club deals (40.6 percent of the respondents). On the other hand, there is little demand for investments in funds with other institutional investors.

Tim Schomberg added: “Residential is the most popular choice in these portfolios. On average, 37.5 percent of the real estate assets are invested in this specific sector. Next in line are offices with 25.0 percent, mixed-use residential/commercial buildings with 12.8 percent and retail assets with 6.3 percent. Interesting is that renewable energies account for a mere 1.8 percent. Here, we’ve actually expected to see a higher share.”

Philipp Schomberg, co-founder and partner of KINGSTONE RE and in charge of the company’s international investments, said: “Also striking to note is the high Germany allocation in the real estate portfolios of the respondents. On average, 88.3 percent of the portfolio assets are located in Germany. Only 5.9 percent of them are located in European countries other than Germany while another 5.4 percent are in the United States or in North America. In many cases, we are looking at a historically evolved allocation. Still, it begs the question whether the Germany share is not rather excessive from a diversification point of view.”

Despite the high real estate ratio, the majority of respondents plan to keep increasing their real estate exposure. Half of them (50 percent) intend to increase their real estate assets slowly over the next twelve months (by 0.0 to 10.0 percent) while 9.4 percent of the respondents are aiming for rapid growth (an increase by more than 10 percent). Another 25 percent of the respondents seek no change for their ratios. Only a small group of 15.7 percent will try to lower their real estate ratio, either slightly (by up to 10 percent) or significantly (by more than 10 percent).

Which real estate asset classes will these investors focus on during the next twelve months? “The survey painted a perfectly clear picture: The focus is primarily on residential assets in Germany,” said Tim Schomberg. “Existing and new-build residential real estate in Germany will top the shopping lists of the respondents with 60 or 50 percent, respectively, in the twelve months ahead. 36.7 percent wish to invest primarily in existing assets and 33.3 percent in housing in the United States or elsewhere in North America. No other use segment comes even close to matching this kind of demand. Trailing the list is US office real estate along with retail and office real estate in Europe.”

“Key criteria for the decision whether or not to invest in a given property include attractiveness of location, available experience with a given use segment and preservation of assets,” said Philipp Schomberg. “The mentioned aspects matter more to the respondents than the return rate. Less important, by contrast, are reputation, emotional factors and architectural aspects. Family offices are very rational and simultaneously rather conservative in their decision-making here.”

The anticipated cash-on-cash returns suggest as much. “Close to 40 percent expect to see net cash-on-cash returns between 3.0 and 4.5 percent annually. 22 percent hope for returns between 4.5 and 6.0 percent,” said Tim Schomberg. Those who predict cash-on-cash returns upward of 6.0 percent are in the minority (25 percent).

The survey was conducted between 25 August and 23 September 2025. A total of 32 family offices participated in it. Among the respondents, 43.8 percent have more than 500 million euros in assets under management while another 12.5 percent manage between 100 and 500 million euros.

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About KINGSTONE Real Estate

KINGSTONE Real Estate is an independent, family-run investment manager headquartered in Munich with a focus on real estate investments in the DACH region, Poland and the Benelux countries. With our local offices and teams, we manage real estate portfolios of around EUR 1 billion in total.
Our strength lies in the structuring and management of customized investment solutions from portfolio management to project development for institutional and private investors – including insurance companies, pension funds, banks, foundations and family offices. As an entrepreneurial company, we place particular emphasis on quality, transparency and a trusting, long-term partnership with our business partners.

For more information, go to: www.kingstone-re.com

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