Subsequent Events (Narratives) (Details) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended			0 Months Ended										1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended
	Nov. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013 property	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Jan. 31, 2014 Subsequent Event	Jan. 31, 2014 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global	Jan. 31, 2014 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global	Mar. 31, 2014 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global	Dec. 31, 2013 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global	Dec. 31, 2012 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global	Jan. 31, 2014 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global Premium on Stock Price	Jan. 31, 2014 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global Consolidated or partially leased investments property	Jan. 31, 2014 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global Consolidated or partially leased investments Hotel property	Jan. 31, 2014 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global Unconsolidated investments property investment	Jan. 31, 2014 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global Fixed Interest Rate Consolidated or partially leased investments loan	Jan. 31, 2014 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global Fixed Interest Rate Unconsolidated investments loan	Jan. 31, 2014 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global Variable Interest Rate Consolidated or partially leased investments loan	Jan. 31, 2014 Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global Variable Interest Rate Unconsolidated investments loan	Dec. 31, 2013 Senior Credit Facility	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior Credit Facility	Feb. 29, 2012 Senior Credit Facility	Jan. 31, 2014 Senior Credit Facility Subsequent Event	Dec. 31, 2013 Revolving Credit Facility	Jan. 31, 2014 Revolving Credit Facility Subsequent Event	Dec. 31, 2013 Term Loan Facility	Dec. 31, 2012 Term Loan Facility	Jan. 31, 2014 Term Loan Facility Subsequent Event option	Dec. 31, 2013 Leases, Acquired-in-Place [Member]	Jan. 31, 2014 Leases, Acquired-in-Place [Member] Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global	Dec. 31, 2013 Above Market Leases [Member]	Jan. 31, 2014 Above Market Leases [Member] Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global	Dec. 31, 2013 Below Market Lease [Member]	Jan. 31, 2014 Below Market Lease [Member] Subsequent Event CPA: 16 - Global	Feb. 28, 2014 Restricted Stock Units Subsequent Event	Feb. 28, 2014 Performance Stock Units Subsequent Event
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Goodwill, acquired			$ 268,683,000	$ 0			$ 392,459,000					$ 428,507,000
Acquired Finite-lived Intangible Assets, Weighted Average Useful Life																													12 years 3 months 20 days	12 years 9 months 18 days	16 years 6 months	12 years 1 month 6 days
Merger Disclosure
Share per share exchange rate							0.1830	0.1830
Per share exchange rate							$ 11.25	$ 11.25
Merger consideration							1,816,859,000
Shares issued as compensation, shares							30,729,878
Fair value of W. P. Carey shares of common stock issued							1,815,521,000	1,815,521,000
Per share closing price						$ 59.08
Cash consideration	13,748,000	0	152,356,000	0			1,338,000
Number of real estate properties		418											327	2	140
Weighted average remaining lease term													10 years 4 months 24 days		8 years 7 months 6 days
Triple-net lease, current minimum base rent receivable													300,100,000		63,900,000
Loans outstanding, count																92	17	18	5
Long-term Debt, Fair Value							1,728,382,000	1,728,382,000							300,000,000
Mortgage loans on real estate, interest rate		5.00%	4.20%	5.10%									5.60%		4.80%
Number of unconsolidated investments															18
Number of consolidated investments (previously held by CPA 16)															11
Number of investments consolidated after merger															5
Number of jointly owned investments with affiliate															2
Merger and acquisition expenses		9,230,000	31,639,000	33,000						5,000,000
Increase Decrease In Market Value Of Stock Price									$ 2.55
Goodwill
Goodwill		350,208,000	329,132,000	63,607,000	63,607,000
NBV of acquiree											$ 8.70
Number of shares acquired								168,041,772
New Senior Credit Facility
Line of credit, maximum borrowing amount																				625,000,000		450,000,000	1,250,000,000.00	450,000,000	1,000,000,000	175,000,000		250,000,000
Debt maturity term																									4 years			2 years
Debt Instrument, Extension Term																									1 year
Debt Instrument, Number of Extensions																												2
Financing costs incurred and to be amortized						8,600,000
Amount outstanding																				$ 275,000,000	$ 253,000,000		$ 765,000,000		$ 765,000,000		$ 175,000,000
Acquired finite lived intangible liabilities weighted average useful life																																	21 years 1 month 7 days	19 years 3 months 18 days
Shares granted in period																																			161,960	79,654