Feb 4 (Reuters) - Real estate investment trust Mid-America Apartment Communities MAA.N posted fourth-quarter adjusted funds from operations below Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, hurt by weak rental demand in its key markets as supply remains high.

The Memphis, Tennessee-based REIT manages more than 250 apartment buildings in the Southeast, Southwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, with cities such as Austin, Memphis and Phoenix as its key markets.

During the quarter, the company's blended lease rate, which reflects a combination of both new lease and renewal rates, was down 1.7%. New leases on a same-store basis also were down 8.1%.

New supply deliveries are still elevated by historical standards, CEO Brad Hill said. He expects a deceleration in new supply, along with strong resident retention to improve rental rates in 2026.

The company expects 2026 core adjusted funds from operations, a key performance measure for REITs, to be in the range of $7.32 to $7.68 per share. Analysts expect an FFO of $8.67 per share, as per data compiled by LSEG.

It posted a fourth-quarter per share profit of 48 cents, which is below the $1.42 recorded in the same quarter the previous year and lower than analysts' estimates of 92 cents.

(Reporting by Anshuman Tripathy and Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)

((Anshuman.Tripathy@thomsonreuters.com;))