MAA Stock: Mid-America Apartment Dividend vs Core FFO, 2026

The $1.53 dividend against Core FFO, FFO, Core AFFO and FAD, six quarters

MAA files one combined report for the parent company and its operating partnership, Mid-America Apartments, L.P. (commission file number 333-190028-01); EDGAR lists the filings under the parent’s CIK 912595, and the per-share figures below are for the parent’s shares and operating partnership units counted together (119.1 million weighted average in Q2 2026). The company reports four earnings measures per share. FFO is the industry (Nareit) definition. Core FFO removes items it calls non-routine, such as legal settlements and investment gains. Core AFFO subtracts recurring capital spending. FAD, funds available for distribution, subtracts redevelopment, revenue-enhancing, commercial and other capital spending as well. The payout ratios in the fifth and sixth columns are the company’s own; the last column is our arithmetic.

The cover narrowed because earnings fell, not because the dividend rose much. Core FFO per share was $2.08 in Q2 2026 against $2.15 a year earlier, down 3.3%; the first half was $4.21 against $4.35, down 3.2%; 2025 was $8.74 against $8.88, down 1.6% (our arithmetic). The dividend moved the other way: the board declared $1.53 in December 2025 after $1.515 for the previous four quarters, a 1.0% increase, and dividends declared per share were $6.075 in 2025 against $5.925 in 2024, up 2.5% (our arithmetic). On the July guidance the $6.12 annual rate is 71.7% of the $8.53 Core FFO midpoint, 72.8% of the low end and 70.8% of the high end, and 81.6% of the $7.50 Core AFFO midpoint (our arithmetic).

FAD is the line that moved most. The stricter measure was $142.2 million in Q2 2026 against $171.9 million in Q2 2025, down 17.3% (our arithmetic), because Core AFFO fell $12.0 million and redevelopment capital spending doubled to $31.7 million from $15.4 million. The first quarter is seasonally light on recurring capital spending ($18.7 million against $37.2 million in Q2), which is why FAD cover looks like 107.8% in Q1 and 77.9% in Q2; the six-month figure of 92.9% is the fairer one, and the same half of 2025 was 100.1% (our arithmetic). FAD is the company’s own measure; the dividend-and-distribution figure includes distributions on operating partnership units.

Cash agrees with the stricter line. The six-month statement of cash flows shows $482.5 million of operating cash flow against $550.1 million a year earlier, and $356.9 million of common dividends, $9.0 million of distributions to noncontrolling interests and $1.8 million of preferred dividends. Those three total $367.8 million, 76.2% of operating cash flow (our arithmetic), against 66.4% in the first half of 2025 and 67.8% for full-year 2025 ($1,078.2 million of operating cash flow in the 10-K). The $53.0 million settlement was paid in the half; with it added back the ratio is 68.7% (our arithmetic). Meanwhile the company spent $167.4 million on capital improvements and $141.0 million on development in the six months, and funded $122.8 million of buybacks, partly with $300.5 million of new notes.

The filings do not give a current price. The company’s June 30 release shows a $138.94 share price, and $6.12 over $138.94 is 4.4% (our arithmetic, an illustration at a company-reported price, not a quote). The buyback prices in the filings were $130.54 on average for 2026 to date, which would make the same dividend 4.7%.

The $53.0 million that Core FFO leaves out: the RealPage settlement

The 2025 fourth-quarter release adds back $53.0 million of “Legal costs, settlements and (recoveries), net” to get from FFO to Core FFO, which is the whole gap between $1.79 of FFO and $2.23 of Core FFO that quarter ($0.44 a share, our arithmetic). The 2025 add-back for the year was $61.9 million, including $8.9 million in Q3. This is the company’s treatment, disclosed and reconciled, but a holder reading only Core FFO or the payout ratio of 73.6% would not see a cash cost of this size.

The January 28 8-K also says the company “also does not anticipate a change to its previously announced annual dividend policy based solely on this settlement,” and the dividend was in fact raised in December before the settlement and held at $1.53 afterwards. The settlement agreement includes prospective commitments on the disclosure and use of nonpublic data and revenue management software, which MAA says are consistent with its existing practices. If the share of class members opting out exceeds a specified level, the company may ask to revise the terms.

Same Store results: occupancy holds, new-lease rents are still negative

The Same Store pool was 96,561 apartments at June 30, 2026. The table gives each quarter as first reported; the pool is redefined each year, so the 2025 rows are not exactly comparable with the 2026 rows.

Expenses are the reason NOI is not worse. In Q2 2026 Same Store revenue was $517.4 million against $519.0 million, down 0.3%, and operating expenses rose 0.8% to $201.2 million, which left NOI at $316.2 million against $319.5 million, down 1.0% (our arithmetic on the supplement). Within expenses, insurance fell 8.0% and property taxes were flat at minus 0.1%, while utilities rose 4.4% and marketing 9.1%. Expense growth was 3.8% in Q2 2025, so the comparison has eased by three points.

The pricing story is in the spread between new and renewal leases. Renewals are priced about 5% higher, new leases about 5% lower, so blended pricing depends on how many of each MAA signs; turnover of 39.6% is described by the company as a record low, with 10.9% of move-outs going to buy single-family homes. In the September 9 presentation MAA says that through August nearly 60% of fourth-quarter renewal decisions were made at increases averaging about 5.5%, and that it expects 2026 blended pricing “in the 0.5% range.” The CEO’s words in the Q2 release: “As steady demand increasingly outweighs the declining pressure from new deliveries more broadly across our footprint, the improved pricing and operating fundamentals we see in a number of our markets should become more broad-based, supporting an accelerating recovery.”

Market by market: where supply still bites

MAA owns apartments in 38 defined markets and about 150 submarkets across 16 states and the District of Columbia. The ten largest markets are 64.6% of Same Store NOI (our arithmetic). The table is from the Q2 supplement; rent is the average effective rent per unit for the quarter.

Occupancy is within about a point of 95% almost everywhere, so the dispersion is in revenue and NOI: Austin’s revenue fell 3.1% with occupancy at 95.0%, up from 94.6% a year earlier, so the decline is rent rather than vacancy (our reading). Austin, San Antonio and Denver are among the sharpest declines in average effective rent (3.9%, 2.5% and 2.8%). Memphis NOI fell 12.1% mostly on expenses: its operating expenses rose 23.6% against a revenue decline of 1.1%.

The September 9 presentation gives the company’s own supply label, concessions and lease pricing for seven markets. These are management statements built partly on RealPage and its own survey, not audited figures.

The company groups Atlanta, Dallas, Orlando and Austin as “Trending Positive” and Charlotte, Washington, DC and Raleigh as “Trending Negative.” On the national supply picture it says multifamily starts in its markets are 1.9% of existing units on a trailing twelve-month basis and have been below the long-term average for 13 consecutive quarters, that deliveries should keep falling through 2028, and that its own rents average about $529 a month less than new supply in its submarkets. Competitors’ concessions average 1.25 months of free rent, and 2-3 months for lease-ups, which the company says implies rent increases of about 10% and 16%-24% when the concessions expire. That is a forecast, not a result.

Guidance: the same $8.53 built three ways

MAA updates its Core FFO, Core AFFO and earnings guidance every quarter. The Core FFO midpoint has been $8.53 in February, April and July. What changed is the build.

Lower revenue was offset by lower expenses and fewer shares. The Same Store revenue midpoint fell by 0.45 points, the expense midpoint by 0.90 points, and the diluted share count by 0.7 million as buybacks proceeded. Multiplying the Core FFO midpoint by the share count gives about $1,022.7 million in February and $1,016.8 million in July, $6.0 million less in total, even though the per-share midpoint did not move (our arithmetic). Earnings per share guidance fell $0.21 at the midpoint, from $4.29 in February to $4.08, the largest change in the table.

A July 30 correction. One day after the Q2 release the company filed an 8-K saying that “the upper end of the updated range for NOI growth should have been stated as -0.10% rather than 0.10%.” The midpoint of minus 0.90% was correct. Anyone quoting the release’s range as ending at plus 0.10% is quoting the uncorrected figure.

What the second half has to do. First-half Core FFO was $4.21 against a full-year midpoint of $8.53, so the second half needs $4.32. The company guided Q3 at $2.04 to $2.16 ($2.10 midpoint), which leaves $2.22 for Q4 at the midpoints (our arithmetic), against $2.08 reported in Q2. In April it had guided Q2 at $2.06 at the midpoint and reported $2.08. The company attributes the step from Q2 to Q3 to Same Store NOI plus $0.01, non-Same Store NOI plus $0.02 and interest expense minus $0.01.

Debt: $5.69 billion at 3.9%, with commercial paper and a 1.2% bond to refinance this year

At June 30, 2026 MAA had $5,691.9 million of debt: $5,331.4 million unsecured (93.7%) and $360.5 million secured. Fixed-rate debt is 86.6% at an effective 3.8%, floating-rate debt $761.7 million at 4.1%, and the whole book averages 3.9% with 6.0 years to maturity, against 3.8% and 6.7 years a year earlier. The maturity schedule from the supplement:

The refinancing arithmetic. The 2026 line is 16.9% of the book and 27.5% with 2027 (our arithmetic). The $299.9 million bond carries a 1.2% effective rate. The most recent public bond in the filings priced at an effective 4.61% (a $200 million reopening in the first quarter of 2026), and the 2032 to 2035 bonds are 4.7% to 5.4%. Interest expense rose 17.8% in Q2 to $53.1 million; the 10-Q attributes the increase to higher average debt, five basis points on the effective rate and less capitalized interest. Replacing the 1.2% bond at current rates would add to it (our reading). The company says it expects one more bond issuance in 2026; the EDGAR list shows none filed as of October 17.

Liquidity and ratios. The $1.5 billion revolving credit facility was undrawn at June 30, the commercial paper program is capped at $750.0 million with $680.7 million average borrowings in Q2, and the $350.0 million delayed draw term loan, signed June 22 and available to draw until December 21, 2026, had $100.0 million outstanding. Combined cash and revolver capacity was $882.8 million. The ratios moved the wrong way over the year, but within covenants:

On the bond covenants, unencumbered assets to unsecured debt was 320.4% against more than 150% required, and debt service coverage was 5.7 times against 1.5 times required. The three agencies rate MAA A- (Fitch), A3 (Moody’s) and A- (S&P) with stable outlooks. The company describes itself as one of twelve U.S. public REITs rated A- or above.

Development and lease-up: $1.2 billion of cost that is not yet fully earning

At June 30, 2026 MAA had six communities under construction with an expected cost of $597.5 million ($360.4 million spent, $237.1 million to go) and five completed communities in lease-up at 74.4% occupancy with $623.7 million of cost to date (our arithmetic: $1,221.2 million together).

The company’s own estimate of the payoff. The September presentation says the active developments and the lease-ups should add $70 million to $75 million of stabilized NOI at a weighted average stabilized yield of 6.1%, but that they dilute 2026 Core FFO by $0.05 a share because of interest on units already delivered and concessions. Development investment guidance is $350 million at the midpoint. Two lease-ups (Val Vista and Breakwater) are expected to stabilize in the third quarter of 2026. MAA also sold a 316-unit community in Houston in February and a 194-unit community in Raleigh in May (about $40 million net, a gain of about $35 million).

Buybacks, the 8.50% preferred and the forward sale

MAA repurchased 206,916 shares in 2025 at $131.61 ($27.2 million) and 940,433 shares in 2026 at $130.54 ($122.8 million), 1,147,349 shares and $150.0 million in all, leaving 2,852,651 shares under the 4.0 million share program authorized in December 2015. All of the 2026 purchases were in the first six months (the 10-Q shows the last, 382,668 shares at $130.66, in May). It sold no shares under its at-the-market program in the first half, with 4.0 million shares still issuable.

On August 28 the company announced that it would redeem all 867,846 outstanding shares of its 8.50% Series I Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock on October 1, 2026 at $50.00 a share plus accrued dividends, $43.4 million in all, after paying the final $1.0625 dividend on September 30. The preferred, which Post Properties issued in 1996, costs $3.7 million a year in dividends. “Under the terms of the original Series I Shares, the redemption price must be funded with proceeds from the sale of other capital stock,” so MAA used a forward sale agreement under its ATM program with an initial forward sale price of $130.00 a share. The company calls it “a targeted capital structure initiative rather than a traditional capital raising transaction” and says it expects accretion to Core FFO per share.

Neither the filings nor the EDGAR list as of October 17 contain a company report that the redemption settled or that the forward shares were issued; the Form 25 is the exchange’s notice that the class is struck from listing. The Q3 10-Q is where the share issuance and the removal of the embedded derivative will show.

What changed after June 30, and what is next

Since the July 30 10-Q the EDGAR list shows: the July 30 guidance correction (8-K); capital markets presentations on August 4 and September 9 (8-Ks); the August 28 preferred redemption press release (8-K); the October 1 Form 25-NSE; and an October 5 Schedule 13G. No Form 8-K reports a new bond, a dividend change or an acquisition. The Q3 2026 results are scheduled for October 28, 2026 after the market close with a call on October 29 at 9:00 a.m. Central, according to a company press release dated October 7 (we read a mirror of it; it is not an SEC filing). Last year the Q3 release was an 8-K on October 29, 2025 and the 10-Q was filed on October 30, 2025. As of October 17, 2026 the 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 is not filed.

The items in the Q3 report that settle the open questions on this page: Core FFO against the $2.04 to $2.16 guidance; the fourth-quarter dividend decision in December (the rate was raised to $1.53 in December 2025); the weighted share count after the forward sale; Same Store new-lease pricing against minus 5.7% for July and August; the commercial paper balance against $664.0 million; whether a bond was issued to cover the $299.9 million maturity; and any filing on the final approval of the RealPage settlement.

What a holder or reader can do with this

This page is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice. What the filings let you check yourself:

• Pick one measure and watch its trend. Dividend over Core FFO is 73.6%, over Core AFFO 86.4%. FAD covered 92.9% of dividends and distributions paid in the first half of 2026 (our arithmetic), against 100.1% in the first half of 2025. A reader who quotes only the first number will not see the other two.
• Read new-lease and renewal rents separately. New leases at minus 5.3% and renewals at plus 5.2% average to plus 0.7% only because of the mix. The September 9 presentation says the company expects full-year 2026 blended pricing “in the 0.5% range.”
• Look at the market list, not the average. Atlanta (12.0% of Same Store NOI) and Dallas (9.0%) are 21% together; Austin, San Antonio, Denver and Memphis lost 6.7% to 12.1% of NOI in the quarter. How much of your exposure is in a market the company itself labels as high supply?
• Count the debt due through the end of 2027. $963.9 million in 2026 and $599.3 million in 2027, 27.5% of the book (our arithmetic); the 2026 bond carries 1.2%, against 4.7% to 5.4% on the 2032 to 2035 bonds.
• Treat Core FFO adjustments as cash questions. The $53.0 million settlement was paid in 2026 and is not in Core FFO; check the same line in every REIT’s reconciliation.

MAA as a benchmark for a private apartment fund. If you own a non-traded or private apartment vehicle, this is the public-company answer to the questions its own filings should answer. For single-family rentals see our VineBrook Homes Trust review and the Invitation Homes and American Homes 4 Rent comparison; for apartment lending, Franklin BSP Realty Trust lends mainly against apartment buildings, and for a non-traded apartment REIT see Cottonwood Communities and the RealtyMogul Apartment Growth REIT review.

If a large share of what you own or live on is one apartment REIT, or you are weighing a listed apartment REIT against a private one, the questions are about your whole position rather than this filing. The stricter cash measure, FAD, covered 92.9% of dividends and distributions paid in the first half of 2026 (our arithmetic), and your own taxes on a gain are not in any of these filings.

FAQ

All figures are from Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (SEC CIK 912595; combined filings with Mid-America Apartments, L.P., file number 333-190028-01) filings and the EDGAR filing list read on October 17, 2026: Form 10-K for 2025 (accession 0001193125-26-041208); Forms 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2026 (0001193125-26-197331) and June 30, 2026 (0001193125-26-326153); earnings releases and supplemental data attached to Forms 8-K for Q1 2025 (0000950170-25-061071), Q2 2025 (0000950170-25-100254), Q3 2025 (0001193125-25-256342), Q4 2025 (0001193125-26-037610), Q1 2026 (0001193125-26-191620) and Q2 2026 (0001193125-26-323756); Forms 8-K of October 23, 2025 (0001193125-25-248770), January 28, 2026 (0001193125-26-027241), June 25, 2026 (0001193125-26-282807), July 30, 2026 (0001193125-26-324880), August 28, 2026 (0001193125-26-372238) and September 9, 2026 (0001193125-26-386623); and Form 25-NSE of October 1, 2026 (0000876661-26-000809). The Q3 2026 date comes from a mirror of the company’s October 7, 2026 press release, not an SEC filing. Percentages of earnings measures not printed by the company, growth rates, sums, FAD cover, cash flow ratios, implied second-half figures, share counts implied by dollar amounts and debt shares are our arithmetic from those rows; FFO, Core FFO, Core AFFO, FAD, NOI, Same Store results, supply labels and concessions are the company’s own measures and statements. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.