Organization (Details Textual)			3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Mar. 31, 2014 Conventional Real Estate Operations [Member] Units Property	Mar. 31, 2014 Affordable Real Estate Operations [Member] Units Property	Mar. 31, 2014 Consolidated Properties [Member] Conventional Real Estate Operations [Member] Property Units	Mar. 31, 2014 Consolidated Properties [Member] Affordable Real Estate Operations [Member] Units Property	Mar. 31, 2014 AIMCO PROPERTIES, L.P
Organization [Line Items]
Number of owned apartment communities in segments			161	72	157	56
Number of apartment homes in owned apartment communities in segments			49,314	9,680	49,172	8,566
Percentage of proportionate property net operating income generated by segment			91.00%	9.00%
Shares of common stock/units outstanding	146,099,689	145,917,387					153,911,534
Organization (Textual) [Abstract]
Aimco's ownership interest in AIMCO Properties, L.P.	94.90%