Revenues and NOI for Reportable Segment (Detail) (Parent Company [Member], USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013
Revenues
Total property revenues	$ 248,770	$ 135,260		$ 736,653	$ 394,662
Management fee income	11	146		169	465
Total operating revenues	248,781	135,406		736,822	395,127
Net Operating Income	148,676	80,927		442,537	243,005
Discontinued operations NOI included above	(539)	(1,360)		(1,502)	(7,378)
Depreciation and amortization	(70,222)	(32,766)		(229,866)	(97,183)
Acquisition expense	(13)	0		(971)	(499)
Property management expense	(7,429)	(4,970)		(24,019)	(15,301)
General and administrative expense	(6,511)	(3,976)		(16,065)	(10,604)
Merger related expenses	(331)	(5,561)		(3,202)	(11,298)
Integration costs	(147)	(35)		(7,140)	(35)
Interest and other non-property income	85	16		1,166	86
Interest expense	(28,251)	(14,923)		(89,090)	(45,657)
Loss on debt extinguishment/modification	(2,586)	(218)		(2,586)	(387)
Amortization of deferred financing costs	(1,000)	(820)		(3,485)	(2,427)
Gain on sale of depreciable real estate assets excluded from discontinued operations	36,032	0	6,200	42,254	0
Net casualty (loss) gain after insurance and other settlement proceeds	(126)	0		(431)	455
Income tax expense	(442)	(223)		(1,235)	(669)
Gain on sale of non-depreciable real estate assets	0	0	500	535	0
Gain from real estate joint ventures	3,124	60		6,019	161
Discontinued operations	388	29,759		6,731	76,355
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	(3,743)	(1,772)		(6,364)	(4,536)
Net income attributable to MAA	66,976	44,284		113,455	124,553
Large Market Same Store
Revenues
Total property revenues	64,017	61,135		187,712	180,012
Net Operating Income	38,556	35,651		111,909	106,279
Secondary Market Same Store
Revenues
Total property revenues	62,758	61,753		186,260	183,450
Net Operating Income	37,425	36,375		111,468	110,455
Non-Same Store and Other
Revenues
Total property revenues	121,995	12,372		362,681	31,200
Net Operating Income	$ 72,695	$ 8,901		$ 219,160	$ 26,271