Investments in Partially Owned Entities - Consolidated Variable Interest Entities ("VIEs") - Additional Information (Details) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($) Property ApartmentUnit	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Properties \| Property	304
Apartment units \| ApartmentUnit	78,645
Total assets	$ 20,406,582	$ 20,570,599
Total liabilities	$ 9,600,313	9,729,781
Consolidated VIE [Member]
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Properties \| Property	17
Apartment units \| ApartmentUnit	3,535
Total assets	$ 717,500	518,900
Total liabilities	$ 313,400	$ 307,000

Sum of the carrying amounts as of the balance sheet date of all assets that are recognized. Assets are probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by an entity as a result of past transactions or events.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03(11))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6876686&loc=d3e534808-122878

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 280
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 22
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=115929826&loc=d3e8736-108599

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.7-03(a)(12))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879938&loc=d3e572229-122910

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- Definition

Sum of the carrying amounts as of the balance sheet date of all liabilities that are recognized. Liabilities are probable future sacrifices of economic benefits arising from present obligations of an entity to transfer assets or provide services to other entities in the future.

+ 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 210.5-02.19-26)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

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- Definition

The number of real estate properties owned as of the balance sheet date.

+ References

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- Definition

The number of units in a real estate property owned as of the balance sheet date.

+ References

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- 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.

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