3. Across Singapore’s Property Market, City Developments Builds a New Fund Management Strategy for the Years Ahead

Singapore property group City Developments Limited is preparing to place greater emphasis on fund management as part of its next three-year strategy. The company plans to build a dedicated platform for private funds while seeking to expand its assets under management to S$10 billion by financial year 2029.

CDL announced the strategy on September 28, 2026, outlining a renewed approach to fund management that will include the appointment of a dedicated chief executive and management team. The company’s current assets under management are around S$5 billion, meaning the new target would represent a doubling over the period.

The move forms part of CDL’s broader GET+ strategy for FY2027 through FY2029. Under the plan, the property group expects to invest S$5 billion and divest S$6 billion, alongside more than S$6 billion in projected property-development cash inflows from existing projects.

Fund management is intended to become a more important part of the company’s capital model. CDL plans to use a combination of listed real estate investment trusts, private funds, partnerships and joint ventures to manage assets and bring in capital from outside investors.

The company’s strategy reflects a wider change in how large property groups can operate. Traditionally, a developer’s balance sheet is central to its growth: acquire land, develop properties, sell or lease them and recycle the proceeds. Fund management adds another layer by allowing a company to manage assets with capital supplied partly by other investors.

CDL said the dedicated platform would have its own leadership and investment governance. The company already has a wholly owned subsidiary, CDL Real Estate Asset Managers, which holds a capital-markets services licence and could form part of the foundation for the new structure.

The company also expects the platform to use assets from CDL’s existing portfolio as well as new acquisitions. Those assets could potentially be placed into investment vehicles alongside third-party capital, allowing CDL to participate in projects without relying entirely on its own balance sheet.

The S$10 billion target is not CDL’s first attempt to expand fund management. The company previously set a target in 2018 to grow fund-management assets to US$5 billion by 2023, but that ambition was not achieved amid difficult fundraising conditions and a prolonged period of high interest rates.

The new strategy arrives in a different environment, although property and capital markets remain sensitive to financing costs and investor confidence. CDL’s plan is consequently built around several elements at once: new investments, asset sales, property development and a larger fund-management operation.

The private-funds component could gradually change the way CDL earns income. Instead of relying only on development profits or property-related earnings, a larger managed portfolio could create recurring fee income from assets controlled on behalf of investors.

For Singapore’s property market, the development is another example of the increasingly close relationship between real estate and financial markets. Buildings remain physical assets, but the capital supporting them can move through funds, partnerships and investment vehicles across different ownership structures.

CDL’s next three years will therefore provide a practical test of how far the company can build this model. The S$10 billion target sits at the end of the roadmap, while the immediate work involves assembling the team, identifying suitable private funds and developing the investment structures needed to support a larger managed portfolio.

Image Disclaimer: The illustrations described below are conceptual visualizations created for editorial purposes and are not photographs of CDL’s actual investment activities or future funds.

Sources: The Business Times; City Developments Limited; Singapore Exchange.