Agreements and Transactions with Related Parties (Narratives) (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended								3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended										12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	0 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended					0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	May 02, 2011	Nov. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013 property	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Jan. 31, 2014 property	Dec. 31, 2013 Long-term net lease	Dec. 31, 2013 Long-term net lease Current	Dec. 31, 2013 Long-term net lease Deferred	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum Contract sales price of investment	Dec. 31, 2013 Minimum	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA: 15 Specific performance criteria	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA: 15 Average invested assets	Jun. 30, 2011 CPA: 16 - Global	Dec. 31, 2012 CPA: 16 - Global	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA: 16 - Global property	Mar. 31, 2012 CPA: 16 - Global	Dec. 31, 2011 CPA: 16 - Global	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA: 16 - Global Average invested assets	Dec. 31, 2011 CPA: 16 - Global Average invested assets	Jun. 30, 2011 CPA:16 - Global operating partnership	Dec. 31, 2011 CPA: 17 - Global	Jan. 31, 2013 CPA: 17 - Global	Feb. 28, 2011 CPA: 17 - Global	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA: 17 - Global Long-term net lease Average market value	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA: 17 - Global Maximum Average equity value	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA: 17 - Global Minimum Average equity value	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA:18 - Global	Aug. 20, 2013 CPA:18 - Global	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA:18 - Global Event I	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA:18 - Global Event II	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA:18 - Global Event III	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA:18 - Global Class A	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA:18 - Global Class C	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA:18 - Global Maximum Average equity value	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA:18 - Global Maximum Event II	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA:18 - Global Minimum Average equity value	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA:18 - Global Minimum Event II	Dec. 31, 2013 Corporate Property Associates Eighteen Operating Partner [Member]	Oct. 06, 2011 CWI	Sep. 13, 2011 CWI	Sep. 30, 2011 CWI	Jun. 30, 2011 CWI	Dec. 31, 2013 CWI	Sep. 30, 2013 CWI	Dec. 31, 2013 CWI Current Contract sales price of investment	Dec. 31, 2013 CWI Lodging-related investments Average market value	Dec. 31, 2013 CWI Maximum Contract sales price of investment	Dec. 31, 2013 Managed REITs property	Dec. 31, 2013 Managed REITs Debt	May 02, 2011 CPA 14/16 Merger investment	Dec. 31, 2013 CPA 14/16 Merger	Dec. 31, 2012 CPA 14/16 Merger	Dec. 31, 2011 CPA 14/16 Merger	Aug. 02, 2012 Options One	Sep. 28, 2012 Options One	Oct. 09, 2012 Options Two	Sep. 28, 2012 Options Two	Apr. 04, 2013 Option Three	Sep. 28, 2012 Options Maximum	Dec. 31, 2013 Self-storage officer property	Dec. 31, 2013 Officers Self-storage	Dec. 31, 2013 Third Party Self-storage	Dec. 31, 2013 Intangible
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Assets held for sale			$ 86,823,000	$ 1,445,000																																																													$ 24,423,000
Revenue from related parties
Percentage of asset management fees earned													0.50%	1.00%						0.50%	0.50%					0.50%	1.75%									1.50%		0.50%										0.50%
Asset management revenue receivable in shares, percent																50.00%
Asset management revenue receivable in cash, percent																50.00%
Structuring revenue
Percentage of acquisition fees earned							4.50%	2.50%	2.00%																		1.75%	0.00%																			2.50%		6.00%
Percentage of structuring revenue earned																																																			1.00%
Unpaid transaction fee interest rate										7.00%		2.00%
Percentage of subordinated disposition fees earned											3.00%
Subordinated disposition revenue																																																				21,300,000
Subordinated incentive revenue			15.00%
Reimbursed costs from affiliates and wholesaling revenue
Selling commission per share sold																								$ 0.65										$ 0.70	$ 0.14											$ 0.70
Dealer manager fee per share sold																								$ 0.35										$ 0.30	$ 0.21											$ 0.30
Shareholder servicing, percentage																																			1.00%
Commission Rate																			5.00%
DRIP rate																		95.00%
Underwriting compensation limit, percentage																																			10.00%
Maximum percent of offering proceeds																																													2.00%
Maximum percentage of follow-on offering proceeds																																													4.00%
Organization and offering costs incurred																													5,100,000																10,400,000
Reimbursable offering costs																																													9,500,000
Reimbursed offering costs																													3,400,000																9,400,000
Aggregate gross proceeds threshold																															4.00%	2.00%	1.50%
Potential gross proceeds from offering																															500,000,000		750,000,000				750,000,000		500,000,000
Distributions Of Available Cash and Deferred Revenue Earned
Percentage of Available Cash distribution to advisor																					10.00%																			10.00%										10.00%		10.00%
Consideration for ownership interests																						300,000
Equity method investment, fair value			0	0	28,308,000																	28,300,000
Share Purchase Agreement
Repurchase of common stock			40,000,000	45,270,000	0																																																			25,000,000		20,000,000		40,000,000	85,000,000
Stock repurchased during period, shares																																																								561,418		410,964		616,971
Common stock market value on excerise date																																																								$ 44.53		$ 48.67		$ 64.83
Registration rights agreement																																																									50,000,000		75,000,000		250,000,000
Redemption value adjustment			0	85,000,000
Redemption of securities			40,000,000	45,000,000
CPA 14/16 Merger
Number of Jointly Owned Investments																																																				3
Acquisition costs	31,800,000
Fair value of mortgage loans assumed	87,600,000
Total per share consideration																																																				$ 11.50
Special Distributions Per Share																																																				$ 1.00
Cash per share exchange rate																																																				$ 10.50
Per share exchange rate																																																				$ 1.1932
Merger consideration																																																				954,500,000
Cash consideration		13,748,000	0	152,356,000	0																																															444,000,000
Shares of acquired entity received																																																				57,365,145
Business Acquisition Cost Of Acquired Equity Interests Issued And Issuable Fair Value																																																				510,500,000
Number of shares acquired																																																				48,076,723
Special Distributions Value																																																				90,400,000
Additional Shares Purchased																																																				13,750,000
Value Of Additional Shares Purchased																																																				121,000,000
Termination Revenue																																																				31,200,000
Shares Received As Termination Revenue																																																				2,717,138
Termination Revenue Received In Shares Exchanged																																																				3,242,089
Shares Received From Reit Arising From Merger																																																				13,260,091
UPREIT Reoganization
Capital Interest Of Managing Members																																																							99.985%
Special Interest																																																							0.015%
Reduced Asset Management Fee Percentage																																																							0.50%
Previous Asset Management Fee Percentage																																																							1.00%
Former Subordinated Incentive And Termination Fee Percentage																																																							15.00%
Final Distribution Percentage																																																							15.00%
Contract Termination Fee																																																							28,300,000
Deferred Revenue Eliminated															6,000,000																																								6,000,000
Ownership Interest In Another Reit																																																							17.50%
Amortization of deferred revenue																																																					8,500,000	8,500,000
Amortization of Basis Differences																																																					900,000	900,000
Unamortized deferred revenue			3,100,000	12,600,000
Line of credit, maximum borrowing amount																													100,000,000																50,000,000							320,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, Amount Outstanding																																																				121,400,000
Debt instrument, description of variable rate basis																																													LIBOR
Debt instrument, basis spread on variable rate																																													1.75%
Due from affiliates			32,034,000	36,002,000																										15,000,000
Loan to affiliates																									90,000,000																		2,000,000	4,000,000
Interest rate on loan to affiliate																							1.15%																				0.90%	2.50%
Proceeds from repayment of short-term loans to affiliates																																										1,000,000
Proceeds from related party debt																																									1,000,000
Number of officers																																																														2
Ownership interest of jointed owned investment																																																														38.30%	1.70%	60.00%
Number of properties sold						6																																																								19
Number of real estate properties			418														467																																	1,021												20
Distribution to noncontrolling interest holders			$ 0	$ 0	$ 7,502,000																																																										$ 3,800,000
Ownership interest in joint ventures										95.00%		3.00%