Why Secondaries Are Becoming Part of the Core Private Markets Playbook

April 27, 2026

HarbourVest’s latest note on the secondary market lands on a simple point. Secondaries are no longer sitting off to the side of private markets. In 2025, private market secondaries topped $225 billion, which was more than 40% above the prior year and a new high for the market. 

Why did volume get that big?

HarbourVest points to a problem that has been building for several years. Exits and distributions have stayed below long-term trends since 2022. That’s left more NAV stuck inside portfolios and pushed investors to sell for practical reasons. Some want to manage exposure. Some want room for new commitments. Some need cash for something else. HarbourVest also notes that GPs are under pressure to pass distributions back to LPs, which has made continuation funds a more attractive route when other exits are harder to pull off. 

Liquidity is no longer a side issue that only shows up in rough patches. It is becoming part of how LPs and GPs manage ownership when the original hold runs longer than planned.

HarbourVest makes that point pretty directly. The firm looks back to 2021, when IPO and M&A volumes were both running hot, and notes that the secondary market also hit a record that year. Their conclusion is that secondaries are now an accepted portfolio management tool for both LPs and GPs, and that volumes should hold up even if exit activity improves. 

Pricing tells a story too. HarbourVest says high-quality mid-market buyout funds are trading at single-digit discounts, while venture funds are still pricing at much wider discounts. The gap says buyers are not chasing discounts for sport. They’re paying closer attention to asset quality, exit routes, and how long it may take to turn paper value into real liquidity. 

The opportunity is also getting broader. HarbourVest says infrastructure secondaries grew from $3 billion in 2015 to $20 billion in 2025. Private credit secondaries also reached $20 billion last year. That’s a much wider market than the old picture many people still carry around, and it lines up with what LPshares sees across private markets. 

Where does LPshares fit into that?

Large institutions have had more established routes into secondaries for years. The lower middle market has had far fewer. Smaller holders and accredited investors have often been left with side calls, scattered relationships, and a process that feels much more manual than it should.

LPshares was built for that gap. Sellers can surface existing private market interests. Buyers can explore those positions. Sponsors keep visibility into who is coming into the deal. That setup becomes more useful as secondaries take on a bigger role across private equity, private credit, infrastructure, and real estate.

HarbourVest also says the drivers behind this market look secular, and expects the market to keep growing as the investor base broadens. In the near term, the firm expects the liquidity environment to bring more sellers into the market and expects many of them to become repeat sellers. 

That’s the larger takeaway here. Private markets are still built for long holds, but ownership now needs better routes when those holds stop lining up with the investor holding the position. Secondaries are taking on more of that work, and LPshares is built to give accredited investors and sellers a clearer place to meet when that need shows up.

LPshares is a secondary marketplace for limited partner interests in private real estate and alternative assets.