Aimco Equity (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Feb. 20, 2019	Feb. 03, 2019 USD ($) shares	Jan. 31, 2019 $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares shares
Classes of perpetual preferred stock
Preferred stock balance				$ 125,000	$ 125,000
Dividends declared per common share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares				$ 1.52	$ 1.44	$ 1.32
Cash dividends on common stock declared				$ 238,067	$ 226,172	$ 206,898
Subsequent Event
Classes of perpetual preferred stock
Cash dividends on common stock declared		$ 67,100
Stock dividends on common stock declared (in shares) | shares		4,500,000
Quarterly cash dividend amount (in dollars per share) | $ / shares			$ 0.39
Class A Cumulative Preferred Stock
Classes of perpetual preferred stock
Shares of preferred stock authorized (in shares) | shares				5,000,000	5,000,000	5,000,000
Shares of preferred stock issued (in shares) | shares				5,000,000	5,000,000	5,000,000
Shares of preferred stock outstanding (in shares) | shares				5,000,000	5,000,000	5,000,000
Preferred stock balance				$ 125,000	$ 125,000
Per share par value of preferred stock issued (in dollars per share) | $ / shares				$ 0.01
Preferred stock, liquidation preference per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares				$ 25
Redemption date				May 17, 2019
Annual per share dividend rate (paid quarterly)				6.88%
Class Z Cumulative Preferred Stock
Classes of perpetual preferred stock
Preferred stock, redemption amount						$ 34,800
Preferred stock redemption premium						700
Previously deferred issuance costs reflected as an adjustment of net income attributable to preferred security holders						$ 1,300
Forecast
Classes of perpetual preferred stock
Reverse stock split, conversion ratio	0.9697534