Property Dispositions and Discontinued Operations (Narratives) (Details) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended						3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended				1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014 property	Mar. 31, 2014 property	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013 property	Jan. 31, 2014 CPA: 16 - Global	Mar. 31, 2014 Assets held-for-sale property	Dec. 31, 2013 Assets held-for-sale property	Mar. 31, 2014 Assets held-for-sale CPA: 16 - Global property	Jan. 31, 2014 Assets held-for-sale CPA: 16 - Global property	Mar. 31, 2014 Assets held-for-sale property	Mar. 31, 2013 Assets held-for-sale	Dec. 31, 2013 Assets held-for-sale property	Mar. 31, 2014 Assets held-for-sale CPA: 16 - Global property	Mar. 31, 2014 Real Estate Ownership	Mar. 31, 2013 Real Estate Ownership	Dec. 31, 2013 Real Estate Ownership	Feb. 28, 2014 Domestic	Feb. 28, 2013 Domestic	Mar. 31, 2014 Domestic property	Mar. 31, 2013 Domestic CPA: 15 property	Dec. 31, 2012 Domestic CPA: 15	Mar. 31, 2014 Domestic Real Estate Ownership	Mar. 31, 2013 Domestic Real Estate Ownership	Dec. 31, 2013 Domestic Real Estate Ownership	Mar. 31, 2013 Domestic Real Estate Ownership CPA: 15
Discontinued Operation Additional Disclosures
Revenues		$ 209,171,000	$ 106,031,000							$ 300,000	$ 300,000			$ 135,236,000	$ 76,483,000							$ 87,624,000	$ 53,641,000
Net Income attributable to W. P. Carey		112,892,000	14,181,000							400,000	300,000			110,407,000	16,692,000							118,335,000	11,653,000
Number of properties held for sale										3		9
Properties sold						6		3		6			3							2
Number of real estate properties	700	700				3	9	6	9										2
Assets held for sale	95,209,000	95,209,000		86,823,000	132,951,000
Proceeds from the sale of properties										34,400,000			92,800,000				4,600,000			11,000,000
Financing cost													15,000,000
Non-recourse debt	2,961,999,000	2,961,999,000		1,492,410,000	1,768,288,000									2,961,999,000		1,492,410,000			6,000,000			1,733,527,000		874,035,000
Gain (loss) on the sale of real estate		3,176,000	(931,000)							3,000,000			100,000				100,000			(300,000)
Impairment recognized on asset to be disposed												3,100,000									200,000
Payment of mortgage obligation										4,200,000			9,600,000							5,700,000
Gain (Loss) on extinguishment of debt, net of tax	(4,700,000)	(2,301,000)	(100,000)							(400,000)			(1,200,000)							100,000
Goodwill allocation adjustment		190,000												190,000											700,000
Contract selling price																		$ 3,100,000	$ 17,400,000
Properties sold or reclassified during the period				25