Variable Interest Entities (Details) - Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary [Member] $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($) Units Property Entity	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) Units Property Entity
Aimco Real Estate [Member]
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Number of consolidated variable interest entities | Entity	13	14
Number of apartment communities | Property	13	14
Number of apartment homes owned by VIEs | Units	4,196	4,321
Variable Interest Entity, Consolidated, Carrying Amount, Assets and Liabilities, Net [Abstract]
Net real estate	$ 478,774	$ 529,898
Cash and cash equivalents	13,776	16,111
Restricted cash	6,302	4,798
Assets held for sale	57,596	0
Non-recourse property debt secured by Real Estate communities, net	340,874	412,205
Accrued liabilities and other	12,204	10,623
Liabilities related to assets held for sale	$ 68,443	$ 0
Asset Management [Member]
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Number of consolidated variable interest entities | Entity	41	49
Number of apartment communities | Property	31	37
Number of apartment homes owned by VIEs | Units	4,879	5,893
Assets Held-for-sale [Member] | Asset Management [Member]
Variable Interest Entity, Consolidated, Carrying Amount, Assets and Liabilities, Net [Abstract]
Net real estate	$ 171,281	$ 215,580
Cash and cash equivalents	14,366	15,931
Restricted cash	22,691	30,107
Non-recourse property debt secured by Real Estate communities, net	183,188	220,356
Accrued liabilities and other	$ 15,118	$ 20,241