Fund Evaluator:

DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional Overview

DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional (DMREX) is an actively managed Municipal Bond Muni National Short fund. Dimensional Fund Advisors launched the fund in 2014.

The investment seeks inflation protection and current income from municipal securities. The fund seeks its investment objective by investing primarily in a universe of investment grade municipal securities, including inflation-protected municipal securities, and in derivative instruments to provide inflation protection. It will invest at least 80% of its net assets in municipal securities that pay interest exempt from federal income tax. No more than 25% of the fund's assets will be invested in municipal securities that, at the time of purchase, are rated in the lowest quarter of the investment grade spectrum.

About DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional (DMREX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 11.59 years: David Plecha (2014), Travis Meldau (2015), Joseph Kolerich (2014). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: S&P Interm National AMT Free Muni TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and S&P National AMT Free Muni TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional has 742 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 9.8% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Municipal Bond fund group. DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional has 0.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 94.4% (94.4% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional has 5.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 billion in total assets, which is above the $642 million average for the Muni National Short category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

DMREX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional expense ratio is below average compared to funds in the Muni National Short category. DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional has an expense ratio of 0.24%, which is 59% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional has a portfolio turnover rate of 132%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 51% for the Muni National Short category.

Recently, in the month of August 2026, DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional returned 0.3%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Muni National Short category had an average return of 0.3%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional has a trailing yield of 2.35%, which is below the 2.78% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

DFA Municipal Real Return Institutional Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 2.3%, 1.2 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 2.2% over the past year (grade of D), 3.4% over the past three years (grade of C) and 2.3% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 2.7% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

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