MAA Equity Parenthetical (Details) - Parent Company [Member] - $ / shares	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2016	Mar. 31, 2015
Equity Disclosure [Line Items]
Common Stock, Dividends, Per Share, Declared	$ 0.82	$ 0.77
Distribution Made to Limited Partner, Distributions Declared, Per Unit	$ 0.82	$ 0.77

Per unit of ownership amount of cash distributions declared to unit-holder of a limited partnership (LP).

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 272
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6373374&loc=d3e70478-108055

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 272
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6373374&loc=d3e70434-108055

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.3-04)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27012166&loc=d3e187085-122770

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration