A survey from iCapital Canada found that nearly half of the advisors it works with at Canadian wealth management firms currently allocate roughly 10–30% of portfolios to private market investments.
The Toronto-based provider of private market investments surveyed advisors at roughly 50 wealth management firms that it works with, which include the Big Six banks, independent dealers, family offices and institutional clients, in October 2025.
About 44% of respondents said they plan to maintain their current allocations over the next 12–18 months and 3% said they don’t allocate to alternatives. Another 5% of respondents said they plan on decreasing their allocations, but the report noted that most of those in this group have already allocated more than 20% of their portfolios to alts.
Meanwhile, 48% said they plan to increase allocations to private market investments during this period. In this group, more than half of advisors said they would increase their allocations by upwards of 5%.
“The 2025 findings reinforce the continued interest in private markets, even as advisors adopt a more measured pace in increasing allocations,” said Tom Johnston, managing director and head of iCapital Canada, in a statement.
Johnston noted that greater accessibility “is the true key to why more Canadian private wealth managers and advisors are beginning to meaningfully increase their allocations to alternative investments.”
The survey also asked advisors to identify their top choices of asset classes in private markets.
It found that private equity, infrastructure and private credit were mostly favoured, with private equity and infrastructure moving up one position, to first and second place, respectively, from their standing in 2024, when the study was last conducted. Private credit fell in the ranks to third place from first over the same period.
Private real estate, private equity secondaries and hedge funds were next in line, remaining in the same spots — fourth, fifth and sixth place, respectively — as 2024.
Asked about their preferences in terms of alts managers, 54% of respondents said they planned to allocate to two managers per asset class, while 27% said they would allocate to three or more managers and 19% said they’d stick to just one manager per asset class.
The study further found that single manager evergreen funds were the preferred vehicle for accessing private equity and private credit strategies.
iCapital Canada also asked its wealth manager clients whether these investment strategies should become eligible in registered accounts.
Roughly 56% of respondents said having alts be eligible for use in registered accounts is important for their clients, while 23% identified registered account eligibility as essential for clients. Another 21% said this wasn’t important for clients.
Liquidity constraints and higher fee structures were cited as being the most significant barriers to accessing these strategies.
Given the complexity that comes with investing in private markets, Johnston said advisors “should take a regimented approach to educating themselves on all features of a particular asset class and strategy before allocating, including a deep dive on due diligence and manager selection.”