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Class K | iShares Developed Real Estate Index Fund
Fund Overview Key Facts About iShares Developed Real Estate Index Fund
Investment Objective
The investment objective of iShares Developed Real Estate Index Fund (the “Fund”), a series of BlackRock FundsSM (the “Trust”), is to seek to track the investment results of an index composed of real estate equities in developed markets.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold Class K Shares of the Fund.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
Class K
iShares Developed Real Estate Index Fund
Class K Shares
Management Fee 0.12% [1]
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees none
Other Expenses 0.03%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.15%
Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements [1],[2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements 0.15% [1],[2]
[1] As described in the “Management of the Fund” section of the Fund’s prospectus beginning on page 26, BlackRock Advisors, LLC (“BlackRock”) has contractually agreed to waive the management fee with respect to any portion of the Fund’s assets estimated to be attributable to investments in other equity and fixed-income mutual funds and exchange-traded funds managed by BlackRock or its affiliates that have a contractual management fee, through May 31, 2021. In addition, BlackRock has contractually agreed to waive its management fees by the amount of investment advisory fees the Fund pays to BlackRock indirectly through its investment in money market funds managed by BlackRock or its affiliates, through May 31, 2021. The contractual agreements may be terminated upon 90 days’ notice by a majority of the non-interested trustees of the Trust or by a vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund.
[2] As described in the “Management of the Fund” section of the Fund’s prospectus beginning on page 26, BlackRock has contractually agreed to waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements (excluding Dividend Expense, Interest Expense, Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses and certain other Fund expenses) to 0.24% of average daily net assets through May 31, 2021. The Fund may have to repay some of these waivers and/or reimbursements to BlackRock in the following two years, and such repayment arrangement will terminate on August 13, 2022. The contractual agreement may be terminated upon 90 days’ notice by a majority of the non-interested trustees of the Trust or by a vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund.
Example:
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in shares of the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Class K | iShares Developed Real Estate Index Fund | Class K Shares | USD ($) 15 48 85 192
Portfolio Turnover:
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 19% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the FTSE EPRA Nareit Developed Index (the “Underlying Index”), which measures the stock performance of companies engaged in the ownership, disposal and development of income-producing real estate in developed countries as defined by FTSE EPRA Nareit. As of April 30, 2020, the Underlying Index was comprised of stocks of companies in the following markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Underlying Index may include large-, mid- or small-capitalization companies, and components primarily include real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The components of the Underlying Index, and the degree to which these components represent certain industries, may change over time.

BlackRock uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of the Underlying Index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of the Underlying Index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Underlying Index.

The Fund generally invests at least 90% of its assets, plus the amount of any borrowing for investment purposes, in securities of the Underlying Index and in depositary receipts representing securities of the Underlying Index.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
Risk is inherent in all investing. The value of your investment in the Fund, as well as the amount of return you receive on your investment, may fluctuate significantly from day to day and over time. You may lose part or all of your investment in the Fund or your investment may not perform as well as other similar investments. The following is a summary description of the principal risks of investing in the Fund. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
  • Asset Class Risk — Securities and other assets in the Underlying Index or in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
  • Concentration Risk — The Fund reserves the right to concentrate its investments (i.e., invest 25% or more of its total assets in securities of issuers in a particular industry) to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index concentrates in a particular industry. To the extent the Fund concentrates in a particular industry, it may be more susceptible to economic conditions and risks affecting that industry.
  • Depositary Receipts Risk — Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition to investment risks associated with the underlying issuer, depositary receipts expose the Fund to additional risks associated with the non-uniform terms that apply to depositary receipt programs, credit exposure to the depository bank and to the sponsors and other parties with whom the depository bank establishes the programs, currency risk and the risk of an illiquid market for depositary receipts. The issuers of unsponsored depositary receipts are not obligated to disclose information that is, in the United States, considered material. Therefore, there may be less information available regarding these issuers and there may not be a correlation between such information and the market value of the depositary receipts.
  • Equity Securities Risk — Stock markets are volatile. The price of equity securities fluctuates based on changes in a company’s financial condition and overall market and economic conditions.
  • Foreign Securities Risk — Foreign investments often involve special risks not present in U.S. investments that can increase the chances that the Fund will lose money. These risks include:
  • The Fund generally holds its foreign securities and cash in foreign banks and securities depositories, which may be recently organized or new to the foreign custody business and may be subject to only limited or no regulatory oversight.
  • Changes in foreign currency exchange rates can affect the value of the Fund’s portfolio.
  • The economies of certain foreign markets may not compare favorably with the economy of the United States with respect to such issues as growth of gross national product, reinvestment of capital, resources and balance of payments position.
  • The governments of certain countries may prohibit or impose substantial restrictions on foreign investments in their capital markets or in certain industries.
  • Many foreign governments do not supervise and regulate stock exchanges, brokers and the sale of securities to the same extent as does the United States and may not have laws to protect investors that are comparable to U.S. securities laws.
  • Settlement and clearance procedures in certain foreign markets may result in delays in payment for or delivery of securities not typically associated with settlement and clearance of U.S. investments.
  • Index Fund Risk — An index fund has operating and other expenses while an index does not. As a result, while the Fund will attempt to track the Underlying Index as closely as possible, it will tend to underperform the index to some degree over time. If an index fund is properly correlated to its stated index, the fund will perform poorly when the index performs poorly.
  • Index-Related Risk — There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the index provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions may cause the index provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.
  • Issuer Risk — Fund performance depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
  • Management Risk — As the Fund may not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BlackRock’s investment strategy may not produce the intended results.
  • Market Risk and Selection Risk — Market risk is the risk that one or more markets in which the Fund invests will go down in value, including the possibility that the markets will go down sharply and unpredictably. The value of a security or other asset may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, exchange, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues like pandemics or epidemics, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments. Selection risk is the risk that the securities selected by Fund management will underperform the markets, the relevant indices or the securities selected by other funds with similar investment objectives and investment strategies. This means you may lose money.

    A recent outbreak of an infectious coronavirus has developed into a global pandemic that has resulted in numerous disruptions in the market and has had significant economic impact leaving general concern and uncertainty. The impact of this coronavirus, and other epidemics and pandemics that may arise in the future, could affect the economies of many nations, individual companies and the market in general ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen at the present time.
  • Passive Investment Risk — Because BlackRock does not select individual companies in the index that the Fund tracks, the Fund may hold securities of companies that present risks that an investment adviser researching individual securities might seek to avoid.
  • Real Estate-Related Securities Risk — The main risk of real estate-related securities is that the value of the underlying real estate may go down. Many factors may affect real estate values. These factors include both the general and local economies, vacancy rates, tenant bankruptcies, the ability to re-lease space under expiring leases on attractive terms, the amount of new construction in a particular area, the laws and regulations (including zoning, environmental and tax laws) affecting real estate and the costs of owning, maintaining and improving real estate. The availability of mortgage financing and changes in interest rates may also affect real estate values. If the Fund’s real estate-related investments are concentrated in one geographic area or in one property type, the Fund will be particularly subject to the risks associated with that area or property type. Many issuers of real estate-related securities are highly leveraged, which increases the risk to holders of such securities. The value of the securities the Fund buys will not necessarily track the value of the underlying investments of the issuers of such securities.
  • REIT Investment Risk — Investments in REITs involve unique risks. REITs may have limited financial resources, may trade less frequently and in limited volume, may engage in dilutive offerings of securities and may be more volatile than other securities. REIT issuers may also fail to maintain their exemptions from investment company registration or fail to qualify for the “dividends paid deduction” under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”), which allows REITs to reduce their corporate taxable income for dividends paid to their shareholders.
  • Small and Mid-Capitalization Company Risk — Companies with small or mid-size market capitalizations will normally have more limited product lines, markets and financial resources and will be dependent upon a more limited management group than larger capitalized companies. In addition, it is more difficult to get information on smaller companies, which tend to be less well known, have shorter operating histories, do not have significant ownership by large investors and are followed by relatively few securities analysts.
  • Valuation Risk — The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by the Underlying Index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s shares. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
Performance Information
The information shows you how the Fund’s performance has varied for the periods since inception and provides some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The table compares the Fund’s performance to that of the FTSE EPRA Nareit Developed Index. To the extent that dividends and distributions have been paid by the Fund, the performance information for the Fund in the chart and table assumes reinvestment of the dividends and distributions. As with all such investments, past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. The table includes all applicable fees. If BlackRock and its affiliates had not waived or reimbursed certain Fund expenses during these periods, the Fund’s returns would have been lower. Updated information on the Fund’s performance, including its current net asset value, can be obtained by visiting www.blackrock.com or can be obtained by phone at (800) 882-0052.
Class K Shares ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS iShares Developed Real Estate Index Fund As of 12/31
Bar Chart
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest return for a quarter was 14.70% (quarter ended March 31, 2019) and the lowest return for a quarter was -6.12% (quarter ended December 31, 2016). The year-to-date return as of March 31, 2020 was –28.32%.
As of 12/31/19 Average Annual Total Returns
Average Annual Total Returns - Class K - iShares Developed Real Estate Index Fund
1 Year
Since Inception
Inception Date
Class K Shares 22.48% 6.75% Aug. 13, 2015
Class K Shares | Return After Taxes on Distributions 19.42% 4.92% Aug. 13, 2015
Class K Shares | Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares 13.48% 4.43% Aug. 13, 2015
FTSE EPRA Nareit Developed Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 21.91% 6.30%  
After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.