Investments in real estate - Schedule of investment in real estates (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2021	Dec. 31, 2020
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Investments in real estate	$ 24,980,669	$ 18,092,372
North America
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Land (related to rental properties)	3,782,182	2,550,571
Buildings and building improvements	16,312,402	13,364,561
Other improvements	2,109,884	1,508,776
Rental properties	22,204,468	17,423,908
Development and redevelopment projects	5,054,632	3,075,453
Future development projects	1,474,008	738,994
Gross investments in real estate	28,733,108	21,238,355
Less: accumulated depreciation	(3,766,758)	(3,178,024)
Investments in real estate	24,966,350	18,060,331
Asia
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Investments in real estate	$ 14,319	$ 32,041

Carrying amount as of the balance sheet date of improvements not otherwise specified in the existing taxonomy.

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The current amount of expenditures for a real estate project that has not yet been completed.

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Aggregate of the carrying amounts as of the balance sheet date of investments in building and building improvements.

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Amount before accumulated depletion of real estate held for productive use, excluding land held for sale.

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Carrying amount of land available for development.

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The cumulative amount of depreciation for real estate property held for investment purposes.

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Amount of real estate investment property which may include the following: (1) land available-for-sale; (2) land available-for-development; (3) investments in building and building improvements; (4) tenant allowances; (5) developments in-process; (6) rental properties; and (7) other real estate investments.

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Amount of real estate investment property, net of accumulated depreciation, which may include the following: (1) land available-for-sale; (2) land available-for-development; (3) investments in building and building improvements; (4) tenant allowances; (5) developments in-process; (6) rental properties; and (7) other real estate investments.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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Carrying amount of income producing properties held for rental.

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