CIMB Research has cut its target price for Singapore property developer City Developments Ltd to S$9.05 from S$9.14 and kept its underperform rating.

CityDev shares were 0.2 percent lower at S$10.20, but have gained about 15 percent since the start of the year.

CityDev, Southeast Asia's second-largest developer, posted a 45 percent drop in first-quarter net profit to S$156.8 million on Thursday, hurt by lower margins from property development and an absence of one-time gains.

This was below CIMB's expectations because of disappointing profit margins for new projects, which could be a recurring trend with new sales largely from the mass market, the broker said.

CIMB cut its core earnings-per-share estimates for CityDev in 2012-2014 by 3-14 percent due to higher cost assumptions, it said.

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1136 (0336 GMT)

(Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore; Editing by Chris Lewis; charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com)