Property Dispositions and Discontinued Operations (Narratives) (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended								3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	9 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013 property	Sep. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2013 Hotel	Sep. 30, 2013 Hotel	Sep. 30, 2014 Land	Sep. 30, 2014 Manufacturing facility	Sep. 30, 2014 Previous Tenant Manufacturing facility	Sep. 30, 2014 Third Party Purchaser Manufacturing facility	Sep. 30, 2013 Jointly Owned Investments	Sep. 30, 2014 CPA: 16 - Global	Mar. 31, 2014 CPA: 16 - Global	Jan. 31, 2014 CPA: 16 - Global	Sep. 30, 2014 Assets held-for-sale CPA: 16 - Global property	Sep. 30, 2014 Assets held-for-sale	Sep. 30, 2013 Assets held-for-sale property	Sep. 30, 2014 Assets held-for-sale	Sep. 30, 2013 Assets held-for-sale property	Dec. 31, 2013 Assets held-for-sale property	Sep. 30, 2014 Assets held-for-sale CPA: 16 - Global	Sep. 30, 2013 CPA: 15 Jointly Owned Investments	Sep. 30, 2013 Affiliate Jointly Owned Investments	Sep. 30, 2014 Real Estate Ownership	Sep. 30, 2013 Real Estate Ownership	Sep. 30, 2014 Real Estate Ownership	Sep. 30, 2013 Real Estate Ownership	Dec. 31, 2013 Real Estate Ownership	Feb. 28, 2014 Domestic	Sep. 30, 2014 Domestic property	Sep. 30, 2013 Domestic property	Dec. 31, 2012 Domestic	Sep. 30, 2014 Domestic Real Estate Ownership	Sep. 30, 2013 Domestic Real Estate Ownership	Sep. 30, 2014 Domestic Real Estate Ownership	Sep. 30, 2013 Domestic Real Estate Ownership	Dec. 31, 2013 Domestic Real Estate Ownership
Discontinued Operation Additional Disclosures
Revenues	$ 195,945,000	$ 132,592,000	$ 657,861,000		$ 350,843,000													$ 800,000	$ 6,300,000	$ 2,600,000					$ 164,212,000	$ 79,810,000	$ 476,018,000	$ 233,951,000						$ 107,799,000	$ 54,953,000	$ 314,911,000	$ 162,784,000
Net Income attributable to W. P. Carey	27,337,000	18,506,000	206,252,000		75,854,000												200,000	300,000	1,700,000	1,100,000					28,687,000	13,695,000	201,844,000	73,494,000						13,731,000	12,954,000	184,678,000	66,397,000
Number of properties held for sale																		3		3	9
Properties sold																10															5	7
Assets held for sale	0		0	86,823,000									133,415,000	132,951,000	133,415,000
Proceeds from the sale of properties																			116,400,000			123,400,000								4,600,000	40,600,000	22,700,000
Proceeds from sale of land								400,000
Financing cost																						15,000,000
Non-recourse debt	2,702,133,000		2,702,133,000	1,492,410,000									1,768,288,000	1,768,288,000	1,768,288,000										2,702,133,000		2,702,133,000		1,492,410,000	6,000,000				1,633,872,000		1,633,872,000		874,035,000
Gain (loss) on the sale of real estate			24,188,000		290,000			300,000	(8,400,000)										28,000,000			(300,000)								100,000	(3,800,000)	600,000
Impairment recognized on asset to be disposed						1,100,000															3,100,000											3,900,000	200,000
Payment of mortgage obligation																			11,400,000			18,900,000										5,700,000
Gain (Loss) on extinguishment of debt, net of tax			410,000		(36,000)														(100,000)			(1,200,000)										100,000
Goodwill allocation adjustment			2,743,000																								2,743,000					1,200,000
Contract selling price							3,800,000		5,800,000														16,400,000
Goodwill, allocation																			7,000,000
Contract termination income										$ 4,400,000	$ 1,400,000
Jointly owned investments, ownership percentage												44.00%												56.00%
Properties sold or reclassified during the period				20