Revenues and NOI for Reportable Segment (Detail) (Parent Company [Member], USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014
Segment Information
Total property revenues	$ 257,811	$ 243,390
Management fee income	0	97
Total operating revenues	257,811	243,487
Net Operating Income	157,903	147,626
Discontinued operations NOI included above	(486)	(1,599)
Depreciation and amortization	(73,112)	(90,013)
Acquisition expense	(339)	(11)
Property management expense	(8,493)	(7,011)
General and administrative expense	(6,566)	(4,342)
Merger related expenses	0	(2,076)
Integration costs	0	(3,842)
Interest and other non-property (expense) income	(157)	160
Interest expense	(29,931)	(30,676)
Loss on debt extinguishment	(3,376)	0
Amortization of deferred financing costs	(917)	(1,311)
Gain on sale of depreciable real estate assets excluded from discontinued operations	30,228	2,564
Net casualty loss after insurance and other settlement proceeds	(19)	(10)
Income tax expense	(510)	(270)
Gain on sale of non-depreciable real estate assets	0	557
Gain (loss) from real estate joint ventures	19	(24)
Discontinued operations	433	5,895
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	(3,410)	(848)
Net income attributable to MAA	61,267	14,866
Large Market Same Store
Segment Information
Total property revenues	142,721	135,078
Net Operating Income	87,122	81,220
Secondary Market Same Store
Segment Information
Total property revenues	79,252	76,396
Net Operating Income	49,187	47,640
Non-Same Store and Other
Segment Information
Total property revenues	35,838	31,916
Net Operating Income	$ 21,594	$ 18,766