Borrowings (Textual) (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended												12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended																12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2013 FNMA	Dec. 31, 2013 Freddie Mac	Dec. 31, 2013 Bank Borrowings	Dec. 31, 2013 Fixed Rate Debt	Dec. 31, 2012 Fixed Rate Debt	Dec. 31, 2013 Conventional Variable Rate Debt	Dec. 31, 2013 Floating Rate Debt	Dec. 31, 2012 Floating Rate Debt	Dec. 31, 2013 Capped Conventional Variable Rate Debt	Dec. 31, 2013 Capped Tax Free Variable Rate Debt	Dec. 31, 2013 Other Than Conventional Variable Rate Debt	Dec. 31, 2013 Fixed Rate Senior Notes	Dec. 31, 2013 Minimum FNMA	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum FNMA	Dec. 31, 2013 Scenario 1 FNMA instrument	Dec. 31, 2013 Scenario 2 FNMA instrument	Dec. 31, 2013 Floating Rate Debt FNMA	Dec. 31, 2013 Floating Rate Debt Mortgages	Dec. 31, 2013 Floating Rate Debt Maximum Mortgages	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt Bank Borrowings	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt Fixed Rate Debt	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt Fixed Rate Debt	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt Floating Rate Debt		Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt Floating Rate Debt		Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt Senior Notes	Oct. 16, 2013 Unsecured Debt Senior Notes	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt Minimum Fixed Rate Debt	Oct. 16, 2013 Unsecured Debt Minimum Senior Notes	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt Maximum Fixed Rate Debt	Oct. 16, 2013 Unsecured Debt Maximum Senior Notes	Dec. 31, 2013 Secured Debt	Dec. 31, 2013 Secured Debt FNMA	Dec. 31, 2013 Secured Debt Fixed Rate Debt	Dec. 31, 2013 Secured Debt Mortgages	Dec. 31, 2013 Secured Debt Floating Rate Debt		Dec. 31, 2013 Interest Rate Swap FNMA Contract	Dec. 31, 2013 Interest Rate Swap Freddie Mac Contract	Dec. 31, 2013 Interest Rate Swap Minimum FNMA	Dec. 31, 2013 Interest Rate Swap Maximum FNMA	Dec. 31, 2013 Interest Rate Swap Maximum Freddie Mac	Dec. 31, 2013 Interest Rate Cap FNMA Contract	Dec. 31, 2013 Interest Rate Cap Freddie Mac Contract	Dec. 31, 2013 Interest Rate Cap Minimum FNMA	Dec. 31, 2013 Interest Rate Cap Maximum FNMA	Dec. 31, 2013 Two Interest Rate Caps FNMA instrument	Dec. 13, 2013 Colonial Unsecured Debt 6.25% Senior Notes due 2014	Dec. 13, 2013 Colonial Unsecured Debt 5.5% Senior Notes due 2015	Dec. 13, 2013 Colonial Unsecured Debt 6.05% Senior Notes due 2016	Dec. 31, 2013 Limited Partner [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Limited Partner [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Limited Partner [Member]	Dec. 13, 2013 Limited Partner [Member]	Dec. 13, 2013 Limited Partner [Member] Unsecured Debt 6.25% Senior Notes due 2014	Dec. 13, 2013 Limited Partner [Member] Unsecured Debt 5.5% Senior Notes due 2015	Dec. 13, 2013 Limited Partner [Member] Unsecured Debt 6.05% Senior Notes due 2016	Dec. 31, 2013 Limited Partner [Member] Unsecured Debt Exchange Notes
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Notes payable	$ 3,472,718,000	$ 1,673,800,000				$ 3,062,600,000	$ 1,291,400,000		$ 410,100,000	$ 382,400,000												$ 1,681,783,000		$ 1,131,800,000	$ 310,000,000	$ 0	[1]	$ 23,000,000	[1]							$ 1,790,935,000		$ 1,380,812,000		$ 410,123,000	[2]
Average interest rate (percentage)	3.90%	3.80%																				4.30%														3.50%		4.20%		1.00%	[2]
Credit facilities, total amount																																					679,500,000
Debt renewal period (days)																																					90 days
Description of variable rate basis	LIBOR
Secured credit facilities, commitment fee percentage (percent)															0.49%	0.67%
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding	0		453,500,000	198,200,000															403,500,000				0
Variable interest rate (percent)			0.80%					0.70%			1.10%	0.90%									7.00%
Line of credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity	500,000,000			200,000,000	496,300,000																																453,500,000
Credit facilities, commitment fees			548,000	3,000																			887,000
Number of Interest rate derivatives held (contracts)																																										4	7				22	1
Notional amount of interest rate derivatives																																										125,000,000	94,000,000				273,000,000	15,000,000
Variable rate borrowings after interest rate swaps (percent)																																										4.60%	4.60%
Line of credit average interest rate	1.10%			0.725%
Derivative instrument maturity year																																												2014	2015	2014		2014	2014	2018
Derivative cap interest rate (percent)																	6.00%	4.50%																														5.00%			5.00%
Number of instruments held																	11	9																																	2
Letters of credit outstanding amount																							3,700,000
Average maturity year																																							2019
Maturity date																				2015						2015	[1]					2017		2024
Long-term debt								96,000,000			225,300,000	88,800,000	1,400,000,000
Average interest rates (percent)													4.30%											5.02%		0.00%	[1]
Unsecured debt														1,700,000,000																																									1,681,783,000	483,000,000
Long-term debt fixed interest rate (percent)														4.30%
Debt instrument, unamortized discount																															3,300,000
Underwriting commissions and expenses																														2,300,000
Proceeds from notes payable																														344,400,000																									347,759,000	325,000,000	285,350,000
Debt instruments maturity date					2015-11
Interest rate description			The interest rate on the majority of the variable portion renews every 90 days and is based on the FNMA discount mortgage backed security rate on the date of renewal, which, for MAA, has historically approximated three-month LIBOR less an average of 0.17% over the life of the FNMA Facilities, plus a fee of 0.49% to 0.67%.
Interest rate terms					The Key Bank Credit Line bears an interest rate of LIBOR plus a spread of 1.05% to 1.85% based on a leveraged based pricing grid.
Aggregate principal amount of notes exchanged																																																				154,235,000	169,161,000	68,130,000					154,235,000	169,112,000	68,130,000
Interest rate, stated percentage																										1.46%	[1]				4.30%																					6.25%	5.50%	6.05%					6.25%	5.50%	6.05%
Cash received from notes exchange																																																										$ 975,000
Covenant obligation, Debt to Total Asset Value																															60.00%
Covenant obligation, Secured Debt to Total Asset Value Ratio																															40.00%
Covenant obligation, Fixed Charge Ratio																																	150.00%		100.00%
Covenant obligation, Unencumbered Leverage Ratio																															150.00%
Interest rate, additional interest, maximum																																																														0.50%

[1] Amounts are adjusted to reflect interest rate swap and cap agreements in effect at December 31, 2013, and 2012, respectively, which results in the Company paying fixed interest payments over the terms of the interest rate swaps and on changes in interest rates above the strike rate of the cap.

[2] Includes capped balances