AvalonBay Communities owns and operates apartment communities across major U.S. metropolitan areas, primarily concentrated in coastal markets like the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Pacific Northwest and California where housing costs and rental demand tend to be higher. As a real estate investment trust, the company distributes most of its taxable income to shareholders as dividends, generating revenue from apartment rental income across its portfolio of owned communities. AvalonBay both develops new apartment communities from the ground up and acquires existing properties, giving it flexibility to grow its portfolio through either construction or acquisition depending on market conditions and land availability. The company's rental income and property values are sensitive to local housing supply and demand dynamics, job growth in its target metropolitan markets, and broader trends in interest rates that affect both its cost of capital and the relative attractiveness of renting versus homeownership for its tenant base.