diff --git a/lib/manager/nuget/__fixtures__/msbuild-sdk-files/global.1.json b/lib/manager/nuget/__fixtures__/msbuild-sdk-files/global.1.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..a823f049f252f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/manager/nuget/__fixtures__/msbuild-sdk-files/global.1.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+  "sdk": {
+    "version": "5.0.302",
+    "rollForward": "latestMajor"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/lib/manager/nuget/extract.spec.ts b/lib/manager/nuget/extract.spec.ts
index 59099efb8d6c5f..69fa7982637ca8 100644
--- a/lib/manager/nuget/extract.spec.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/nuget/extract.spec.ts
@@ -117,25 +117,41 @@ describe('manager/nuget/extract', () => {
     it('extracts msbuild-sdks from global.json', async () => {
       const packageFile = 'msbuild-sdk-files/global.json';
       const contents = loadFixture(packageFile);
-      expect(await extractPackageFile(contents, packageFile, config))
-        .toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
-        Object {
-          "deps": Array [
-            Object {
-              "currentValue": "5.0.302",
-              "depName": "dotnet-sdk",
-              "depType": "dotnet-sdk",
-              "skipReason": "unsupported-datasource",
-            },
-            Object {
-              "currentValue": "0.2.0",
-              "datasource": "nuget",
-              "depName": "YoloDev.Sdk",
-              "depType": "msbuild-sdk",
-            },
-          ],
-        }
-      `);
+      expect(
+        await extractPackageFile(contents, packageFile, config)
+      ).toMatchObject({
+        deps: [
+          {
+            currentValue: '5.0.302',
+            depName: 'dotnet-sdk',
+            depType: 'dotnet-sdk',
+            skipReason: 'unsupported-datasource',
+          },
+          {
+            currentValue: '0.2.0',
+            datasource: 'nuget',
+            depName: 'YoloDev.Sdk',
+            depType: 'msbuild-sdk',
+          },
+        ],
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('extracts dotnet-sdk from global.json', async () => {
+      const packageFile = 'msbuild-sdk-files/global.1.json';
+      const contents = loadFixture(packageFile);
+      expect(
+        await extractPackageFile(contents, 'global.json', config)
+      ).toMatchObject({
+        deps: [
+          {
+            currentValue: '5.0.302',
+            depName: 'dotnet-sdk',
+            depType: 'dotnet-sdk',
+            skipReason: 'unsupported-datasource',
+          },
+        ],
+      });
     });
 
     it('handles malformed global.json', async () => {
diff --git a/lib/manager/nuget/extract/global-manifest.ts b/lib/manager/nuget/extract/global-manifest.ts
index 48fe0a1939adba..47edd02b474b41 100644
--- a/lib/manager/nuget/extract/global-manifest.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/nuget/extract/global-manifest.ts
@@ -35,16 +35,18 @@ export function extractMsbuildGlobalManifest(
     });
   }
 
-  for (const depName of Object.keys(manifest['msbuild-sdks'])) {
-    const currentValue = manifest['msbuild-sdks'][depName];
-    const dep: PackageDependency = {
-      depType: 'msbuild-sdk',
-      depName,
-      currentValue,
-      datasource: datasourceNuget.id,
-    };
+  if (manifest['msbuild-sdks']) {
+    for (const depName of Object.keys(manifest['msbuild-sdks'])) {
+      const currentValue = manifest['msbuild-sdks'][depName];
+      const dep: PackageDependency = {
+        depType: 'msbuild-sdk',
+        depName,
+        currentValue,
+        datasource: datasourceNuget.id,
+      };
 
-    deps.push(dep);
+      deps.push(dep);
+    }
   }
 
   return { deps };
diff --git a/lib/manager/nuget/readme.md b/lib/manager/nuget/readme.md
index fe57c0fb21e796..d8d14edd29bc8c 100644
--- a/lib/manager/nuget/readme.md
+++ b/lib/manager/nuget/readme.md
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 The `nuget` configuration object is used to control settings for the NuGet package manager.
-The NuGet package manager supports a SDK-style `.csproj`/`.fsproj`/`.vbproj` format, as described [here](https://natemcmaster.com/blog/2017/03/09/vs2015-to-vs2017-upgrade/).
-This means that .NET Core projects are all supported but any .NET Framework projects need to be updated to the new `.csproj`/`.fsproj`/`.vbproj` format in order to be detected and supported by Renovate.
+The NuGet package manager supports a SDK-style `.csproj`/`.fsproj`/`.vbproj`/`.props`/`.targets` format, as described [here](https://natemcmaster.com/blog/2017/03/09/vs2015-to-vs2017-upgrade/).
+This means that .NET Core projects are all supported but any .NET Framework projects need to be updated to the new `.csproj`/`.fsproj`/`.vbproj`/`.props`/`.targets` format in order to be detected and supported by Renovate.
+
+The NuGet manager also supports `global.json` and `.config/dotnet-tools.json` SDK files.
diff --git a/lib/manager/nuget/types.ts b/lib/manager/nuget/types.ts
index eae8865e24fa40..e4cbfd60f14968 100644
--- a/lib/manager/nuget/types.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/nuget/types.ts
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ export interface Registry {
 }
 
 export interface MsbuildGlobalManifest {
-  readonly sdk: MsbuildSdk;
-  readonly 'msbuild-sdks': Record<string, string>;
+  readonly sdk?: MsbuildSdk;
+  readonly 'msbuild-sdks'?: Record<string, string>;
 }
 
 export interface MsbuildSdk {