Private credit is being priced more often as it expands into funds sold to retail investors, but only a handful of fund groups fully revalue the loans each day, according to Deloitte.

Deloitte’s 24th Fair Valuation Pricing Survey, which polled more than 100 fund groups, found that 48 per cent now refresh private credit valuations daily using observable market inputs.

However, just 4 per cent carry out a full daily update that revisits unobservable inputs, cash flow assumptions and methodology. The largest share, 39 per cent, do so quarterly.

A third of fund groups surveyed now hold private credit, and 66 per cent of those increased their positions over the past year. The shift reflects the asset class moving beyond closed-ended institutional funds and into products that must publish a price every day.

Some 69 per cent of fund groups now receive a price, or a range of prices, for their private credit holdings from a third-party provider, up from 66 per cent last year, the survey said.

Deloitte said “valuation practices need to become more dynamic”, with private credit increasingly subject to more frequent pricing and greater reliance on outside valuation providers.

The move towards daily pricing is gathering pace. Earlier this month, Apollo began extending daily pricing across its $850bn (£643.7bn) credit business as part of a wider push for transparency. The firm has stressed that the figures come from its in-house model, benchmarked against public market data.

It comes after a year in which high-profile defaults, markdowns on software loans and redemption caps at major funds have tested whether private credit valuations are keeping pace with reality.

Regulators have taken note. In May, Sarah Pritchard, deputy chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, warned that confidence in private markets tends to collapse not when valuations move, but when investors stop trusting the numbers.

Last month, the US Securities and Exchange Commission issued a statement reminding firms to apply rigour when valuing private assets, singling out private credit because of its rapid growth. 

Deloitte’s survey also highlighted this as among fund groups examined by the SEC in the past year, 53 per cent said valuation policies and procedures were a focus. That is down from 58 per cent in 2025 but well above the 39 per cent recorded in 2024.

“Private-market investing is entering a more complex phase as fund groups respond to investor demand, evolving products, and increasing regulatory attention,” said Paul Kraft, lead partner at Deloitte & Touche.

“The survey highlights the importance of pairing innovation – including daily pricing and artificial intelligence – with disciplined governance, independent challenge, and human-led oversight.”