DFA California Municipal Real Return Portfolio
Data updated: 2026-09-24
C000194527 — DFA California Municipal Real Return Portfolio. Short Municipal - National Bond · $391.38M AUM. Holdings, fees, performance and SEC filings.
C000194527 Fund Overview
DFA California Municipal Real Return Portfolio is a US mutual fund managed by Dfa Investment Dimensions Group INC, categorised as Short Municipal - National Bond. ABC INVEST provides holdings, performance, costs, cashflows, risk data, prospectus documents and SEC filings, sourced from SEC filings.
- Type: US mutual fund
- Manager: Dfa Investment Dimensions Group INC
- Category: Short Municipal - National Bond
- Assets under management: $391.38M
- 1-year return: 3.3%
- SEC CIK: 0000355437
- SEC series ID: S000059251
- Share class ID: C000194527
C000194527 Investment Objective and Strategy
DFA California Municipal Real Return Portfolio describes its objective and strategy as follows, from its latest prospectus filed with the SEC by Dfa Investment Dimensions Group INC.
Investment objective
The investment objective of the DFA California Municipal Real Return Portfolio (the “California Municipal Real Return Portfolio”) is to seek to provide inflation protection and earn current income that is expected to be exempt from federal personal income taxes and California state personal income taxes.
Principal investment strategy
The California Municipal Real Return Portfolio seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in a universe of municipal securities, including inflation-protected municipal securities, issued by or on behalf of California state or local governments and their agencies, instrumentalities, and regional governmental authorities, and in derivative instruments to provide inflation protection. The Portfolio may also invest a portion of its assets in municipal securities issued by U.S. territories that are exempt from state taxation under federal law. Municipal securities in which the Portfolio may invest include, among others, revenue bonds, general obligation bonds, industrial development bonds, municipal lease obligations, commercial paper, variable rate demand obligations and other instruments (including participation interests in such securities).
The interest on the municipal securities purchased by the California Municipal Real Return Portfolio, in the opinion of bond counsel for the issuers and under current tax law, is exempt from federal income tax (i.e., excludable from gross income for individuals for federal income tax purposes) and California state personal income tax. As a fundamental investment policy, under normal market conditions, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in municipal securities that pay interest exempt from federal income tax and California state personal income tax. The Portfolio does not currently intend to invest its assets in municipal securities whose interest is subject to the federal alternative minimum tax. Under normal circumstances, the California Municipal Real Return Portfolio will maintain an average portfolio duration of no greater than five years.
If a security has been redeemed by the issuer at a date prior to the stated final maturity date for the purposes of the above duration restriction, the early redemption date shall be considered the maturity date regardless of the stated final maturity. Municipal securities are often issued to obtain funds for various public purposes, including the construction of a wide range of public facilities, such as bridges, highways, housing, hospitals, mass transportation facilities, schools, streets and public utilities, such as water and sewer works. Municipal securities include municipal leases, certificates of participation, municipal obligation components and municipal custody receipts. The Portfolio may invest more than 25% of its assets in municipal securities issued to finance projects in a particular segment of the bond market including, but not limited to, health care, housing, education, utilities, and transportation.
The Portfolio also may invest more than 25% of its assets in industrial development bonds. The California Municipal Real Return Portfolio intends to maintain a dollar-weighted average credit quality equal to or better than the lower of: (i) a credit quality rating of AA by Standard & Poors Rating Group or Aa2 by Moodys Investors Services, Inc. or AA by Fitch Ratings Ltd. or (ii) the credit quality of general obligation bonds issued by the State of California. For purposes of the above policy on dollar-weighted average credit quality, unrated securities may be included if such securities have been determined by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the Advisor) to be of comparable quality. The California Municipal Real Return Portfolio will be managed with a view to capturing expected credit premiums and expected term premiums.
The Advisor believes that expected credit premiums for a California municipal securities portfolio are available through investment in municipal securities that may include certain securities that are below investment grade, also known as junk bonds. The California Municipal Real Return Portfolio may (1) purchase certain municipal securities that are insured, (2) invest in municipal securities secured by mortgages on single-family homes and multi-family projects, (3) invest in pre-refunded municipal securities, (4) purchase tax-exempt municipal securities on a when-issued basis and (5) use fixed income related futures and options contracts, credit default swaps and interest rate swaps to hedge against changes in interest rates. The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.
Although the California Municipal Real Return Portfolio attempts to invest all of its assets in tax-exempt securities (federal and State of California), it is possible, although not anticipated, that a portion of its assets may be invested in securities that pay taxable interest, including interest that may be subject to the federal alternative minimum tax. These investments could generate taxable income for shareholders. The California Municipal Real Return Portfolio may enter into swaps, such as inflation swaps, to seek inflation protection. The Portfolio also may enter into credit default swaps on issuers or indices to buy or sell credit protection to hedge its credit exposure; gain market or issuer exposure without owning the underlying securities; or increase the Portfolios total return.
The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts, to hedge its interest rate exposure or for non-hedging purposes, such as a substitute for direct investment or to adjust market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. The Portfolio does not intend to sell futures contracts to establish short positions in individual securities or to use derivatives for purposes of speculation or leveraging investment returns. The California Municipal Real Return Portfolio is primarily designed for investment by California taxpayers.
C000194527 Holdings
Top 10 holdings of DFA California Municipal Real Return Portfolio by percentage of net assets, from the fund's latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Holding | % of net assets |
|---|---|
| State of California | 1.88% |
| San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District | 1.78% |
| Los Angeles Unified School District/CA | 1.52% |
| Bank of America NA | 1.49% |
| County of Riverside CA | 1.38% |
| San Diego County CA / San Diego County School Districts | 1.28% |
| Ventura County Community College District | 1.28% |
| California Statewide Communities Development Authority | 1.28% |
| State of California | 1.26% |
| Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Sales Tax Revenue | 1.10% |
C000194527 Portfolio Allocation
Asset-class allocation of DFA California Municipal Real Return Portfolio by percentage of net assets, from the latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Asset class | Allocation |
|---|---|
| Fixed Income | 94.9% |
| Cash & Equivalents | 2.0% |
| Real Estate | 1.9% |
C000194527 Performance
Total returns for C000194527 (as of 2026-10-01), from SEC filings.
| Period | Total return |
|---|---|
| YTD | 1.7% |
| 1 year | 3.3% |
| 3 years (annualised) | 3.2% |
| 5 years (annualised) | 2.8% |
C000194527 Risk Information
Risk metrics for C000194527, derived from monthly returns in SEC filings.
- 1-year volatility (annualised): 0.9%
C000194527 Costs and Fees
C000194527 costs about $25 per $10,000 invested per year in fund expenses.
- Net expense ratio: 0.25%
- Gross expense ratio: 0.25%
- Portfolio turnover: 137%
- Brokerage commissions: 0.00 bps of average net assets (SEC N-CEN)
C000194527 Cashflows
Over the 12 months to 2026-04, DFA California Municipal Real Return Portfolio had net inflows of $49.48M, from monthly SEC N-PORT filings.
| Month | Net flow |
|---|---|
| 2026-04 | $2.53M |
| 2026-03 | −$781.52K |
| 2026-02 | $12.70M |
| 2026-01 | $2.86M |
| 2025-12 | $310.57K |
| 2025-11 | $2.73M |
C000194527 Debt Constituents
Largest debt holdings of DFA California Municipal Real Return Portfolio by percentage of net assets, from the latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Debt holding | % of net assets |
|---|---|
| State of California | 1.88% |
| San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District | 1.78% |
| Los Angeles Unified School District/CA | 1.52% |
| County of Riverside CA | 1.38% |
| San Diego County CA / San Diego County School Districts | 1.28% |
| Ventura County Community College District | 1.28% |
| State of California | 1.26% |
| Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Sales Tax Revenue | 1.10% |
| California Health Facilities Financing Authority | 1.06% |
| San Diego Public Facilities Financing Authority | 1.01% |
C000194527 Prospectus and SEC Filings
Official DFA California Municipal Real Return Portfolio filings on SEC EDGAR — prospectus, portfolio holdings and annual reports.
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2026-02-27
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2025-02-28
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2024-02-28
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-09-24
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-06-24
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-03-27
- Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2026-01-12
- Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2025-01-10
Related Funds
Other Short Municipal - National Bond funds tracked on ABC INVEST:
Data Sources
ABC INVEST compiles this page from public filings made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through EDGAR: portfolio holdings and monthly cashflows from Form N-PORT, expenses and returns from fund prospectuses (Form 485BPOS) and the SEC DERA Risk/Return Summary data sets, annual data from Form N-CEN, and shareholder reports from Form N-CSR.