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Employee Plans (Details) (USD $)
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2013
Dec. 31, 2012
Summary of information regarding the Common Shares issued under the ESPP      
Shares issued 68,807us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardSharesIssuedInPeriod 73,468us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardSharesIssuedInPeriod 110,054us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardSharesIssuedInPeriod
Employee Share Purchase Plan Issuance Price Minimum $ 45.90eqr_EmployeeSharePurchasePlanIssuancePriceMinimum $ 44.26eqr_EmployeeSharePurchasePlanIssuancePriceMinimum $ 46.33eqr_EmployeeSharePurchasePlanIssuancePriceMinimum
Employee Share Purchase Plan Issuance Price Maximum $ 55.95eqr_EmployeeSharePurchasePlanIssuancePriceMaximum $ 48.17eqr_EmployeeSharePurchasePlanIssuancePriceMaximum $ 51.78eqr_EmployeeSharePurchasePlanIssuancePriceMaximum
Issuance proceeds $ 3,392,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromIssuanceOfSharesUnderIncentiveAndShareBasedCompensationPlans $ 3,401,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromIssuanceOfSharesUnderIncentiveAndShareBasedCompensationPlans $ 5,399,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromIssuanceOfSharesUnderIncentiveAndShareBasedCompensationPlans
Value of common shares that can be acquired by the employee and trustees under employees share purchase plan 100,000eqr_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardValueOfCommonSharesThatCanBeAcquiredByEmployeeAndTrusteesUnderEmployeesSharePurchasePlan    
Number of common shares authorized after amendment 7,000,000eqr_Sharebasedcompensationarrangementbysharebasedpaymentawardnumberofsharesauthorizedafteramendment    
Number of common shares authorized before amendment 2,000,000eqr_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardNumberOfSharesAuthorizedBeforeAmendment    
Common Shares available for purchase under the ESPP 3,038,534eqr_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardNumberOfSharesAvailableForPurchaseUnderEmployeeSharePurchasePlan    
Purchase price of common stock 85.00%us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardDiscountFromMarketPricePurchaseDate    
Minimum eligible compensation percentage for the defined contribution plan (the "401(k) Plan") 4.00%eqr_MaximumEligibleCompensationPercentageForDefinedContributionPlanByEmployer 3.00%eqr_MaximumEligibleCompensationPercentageForDefinedContributionPlanByEmployer  
Defined contribution plan vesting period 5eqr_DefinedContributionPlanVestingPeriod    
Defined contribution plan, compensation expense $ 5,200,000us-gaap_DefinedContributionPlanCostRecognized $ 4,200,000us-gaap_DefinedContributionPlanCostRecognized $ 4,400,000us-gaap_DefinedContributionPlanCostRecognized