Partners Capital (Details Textual) (USD $)	12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2013 AIMCO PROPERTIES, L.P	Dec. 31, 2012 AIMCO PROPERTIES, L.P	Dec. 31, 2011 AIMCO PROPERTIES, L.P	Dec. 31, 2011 Aimco [Member] AIMCO PROPERTIES, L.P	Dec. 31, 2010 Aimco [Member] AIMCO PROPERTIES, L.P	Dec. 31, 2011 Special Distribution to Common Partnership Units [Member] AIMCO PROPERTIES, L.P	Dec. 31, 2013 High Performance Units [Member] AIMCO PROPERTIES, L.P	Dec. 31, 2012 High Performance Units [Member] AIMCO PROPERTIES, L.P
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Redeemable Partnership Preferred Units redeemed for cash during period				3,600	131,400	1,600
Operating Partnership Units Issued To Acquire Noncontrolling Limited Partnership Interests In Consolidated Partnerships				21,500	184,000	6,900
Common OP Units redeemed in exchange for cash during period				105,000	416,000	237,000
HPUs outstanding										2,339,950	2,339,950
Note receivable from Aimco, stated interest rate percentage								5.70%
Face value of notes receivable from Aimco								$ 10,100,000
Repayment of notes receivable from Aimco							18,500,000
Special distribution on common partnership units	$ 140,052,000	$ 104,006,000	$ 57,583,000						$ 19,700,000
Special distribution on common partnership units, per share	$ 0.96	$ 0.76	$ 0.48	$ 0.96	$ 0.76	$ 0.63			$ 0.15