What is a cash flow waterfall?

A cash flow waterfall is a bar chart that walks from operating cash flow through capital expenditure to free cash flow, then shows how the remaining cash is allocated — acquisitions, buybacks, dividends, debt, and other financing — ending at the net change in cash. Each step is colour-coded: green bars add to the running total, red bars subtract.

How does AvalonBay Communities (AVB) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, AvalonBay Communities generated $1.67B of operating cash flow and $1.5B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 89.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did AvalonBay Communities (AVB) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent AvalonBay Communities's shareholder returns for TTM through Q1 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

AvalonBay Communities (AVB) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.67B

Capex

-$171M

Free Cash Flow

$1.5B

FCF Margin

+89.8%

Cash flow waterfall for AvalonBay Communities (AVB) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.5B

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by acquisitions and investment activity.

Cash flow breakdown for AvalonBay Communities (AVB) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.67B	$1.67B
Capital Expenditure	-$171M	$1.5B
Free Cash Flow	$1.5B	$1.5B
Other Investing	-$843M	$661M
Share Buybacks	-$687M	-$25.9M
Dividends Paid	-$998M	-$1.02B
Net Debt Change	$959M	-$65.1M
Other Financing & FX	$137M	$72M
Net Cash Increase	$72M	$72M

Operating Cash Flow$1.67B
Capital Expenditure-$171M
Free Cash Flow$1.5B
Other Investing-$843M
Share Buybacks-$687M
Dividends Paid-$998M
Net Debt Change$959M
Other Financing & FX$137M
Net Cash Increase$72M

Want to see what drove the FCF change?Free Cash Flow Bridge

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AvalonBay Communities (AVB) Key Financials

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Income Statement

Balance Sheet

Profitability

Operating Margin29.2%

Cash Flow

Capital Return

Forecast & Valuation

Operations

Employees3.0K

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