A magnetoresistive element has a magnetization pinned layer, a nonmagnetic spacer layer including a stack of a nonmagnetic metal layer, a resistance increasing layer and another nonmagnetic metal layer, a magnetization free layer having an fcc crystal structure, a cap layer having an fcc, an hcp, or a bcc crystal structure and having an interatomic distance between nearest neighbors greater than that of the magnetization free layer, and a pair of electrodes configured to provide a sense current in a direction substantially perpendicular to planes of the magnetization pinned layer, the nonmagnetic spacer layer, and the magnetization free layer.