SECURED AND UNSECURED DEBT, NET - Short Term Debt (Details) - Commercial Paper - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Unsecured Debt
Total unsecured commercial paper program	$ 500,000	$ 500,000
Borrowings outstanding at end of period	300,000	101,115
Weighted average daily borrowings during the period ended	173,353	344,235
Maximum daily borrowings during the period ended	$ 435,000	$ 440,000
Weighted average interest rate during the period ended	2.50%	2.40%
Interest rate at the end of the period	2.00%	2.90%

Commercial Paper, Maximum Borrowing Amount

No definition available.

Name:	udr_CommercialPaperMaximumBorrowingAmount
Namespace Prefix:	udr_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Unsecured short-term debt instrument issued by corporations which are highly liquid investments that are both readily convertible to known amounts of cash and so near their maturity that they present insignificant risk of changes in value because of changes in interest rates. Generally, only investments with original maturities of three months or less qualify under that definition. Original maturity means original maturity to the entity holding the investment. For example, both a three-month US Treasury bill and a three-year Treasury note purchased three months from maturity qualify as cash equivalents. However, a Treasury note purchased three-years ago does not become a cash equivalent when its remaining maturity is three months.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_CommercialPaperAtCarryingValue
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The effective interest rate at the end of the reporting period.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19(b),22(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityInterestRateAtPeriodEnd
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

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.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShortTermDebtLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Weighted average interest rate of short-term debt outstanding calculated over time.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShortTermDebtWeightedAverageInterestRateOverTime
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

For the form of debt having an initial term of less than one year or less than the normal operating cycle, if longer, average borrowings during the period.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShorttermDebtAverageOutstandingAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

For the form of debt having an initial term of less than one year or less than the normal operating cycle, if longer, the maximum amount borrowed at any time during the period.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShorttermDebtMaximumAmountOutstandingDuringPeriod
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_CommercialPaperMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: