Other Real Estate Property Investments (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 item	Dec. 31, 2012 item	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 04, 2012 item	Oct. 31, 2012 item
Acquisition
Consideration, Cash Paid	$ 186,478,000	$ 186,478,000	$ 113,830,000
Cash used in the senior housing portfolio acquisition		(1,701,410,000)
Rental and related revenues	1,043,473,000	1,043,473,000
Principal amount of secured debt	144,886,000	144,886,000
Consideration, Debt and Other Liabilities Assumed	60,597,000	60,597,000	57,869,000
Consideration, Noncontrolling Interest	42,734,000	42,734,000	1,500,000	9,267,000
Assets Acquired, Real Estate	221,682,000	221,682,000	159,401,000
Assets Acquired, Net Intangibles	68,127,000	68,127,000	13,798,000
Senior housing
Acquisition
Number of senior housing communities					2	127
Consideration, Cash Paid	3,860,000	3,860,000
Assets Acquired, Real Estate	3,541,000	3,541,000
Assets Acquired, Net Intangibles	319,000	319,000
Life science
Acquisition
Consideration, Cash Paid	7,964,000	7,964,000	84,087,000
Consideration, Debt and Other Liabilities Assumed			57,869,000
Consideration, Noncontrolling Interest	86,000	86,000
Assets Acquired, Real Estate	7,580,000	7,580,000	133,210,000
Assets Acquired, Net Intangibles	470,000	470,000	8,746,000
Number of facilities placed into service			2
The square footage of facilities placed in service			88,000
Medical office
Acquisition
Consideration, Cash Paid	171,654,000	171,654,000	29,743,000
Consideration, Debt and Other Liabilities Assumed	60,597,000	60,597,000
Consideration, Noncontrolling Interest	42,648,000	42,648,000	1,500,000
Assets Acquired, Real Estate	207,561,000	207,561,000	26,191,000
Assets Acquired, Net Intangibles	67,338,000	67,338,000	5,052,000
Hospital
Acquisition
Consideration, Cash Paid	3,000,000	3,000,000
Assets Acquired, Real Estate	3,000,000	3,000,000
Senior housing, life science and medical office
Acquisition
Payments to acquire productive assets		183,000,000
Life science and medical office
Acquisition
Payments to acquire productive assets			127,000,000
Blackstone JV | Senior housing
Acquisition
Number of senior housing communities	129	129			2	127
Acquistion of senior housing					24,000,000	1,680,000,000
Consideration, Cash Paid	1,700,000,000	1,700,000,000
Number of states where acquired senior housing communities are located	29	29
Number of units	10,077	10,077			235	9,842
Number of communities that are stabilized	95	95
Number of communities currently lease-up	34	34
Number of stages for acquisition to close	2
Net income (loss)	22,000,000
Number of asset pools	3	3
Number of extension options with Emeritus Corporation	2
Consideration, Debt and Other Liabilities Assumed	4,000,000	4,000,000
Assets Acquired, Real Estate	1,500,000,000	1,500,000,000
Assets Acquired, Net Intangibles	170,000,000	170,000,000
Unaudited pro forma consolidated results of operations
Revenues		1,987,055,000	1,815,696,000	1,343,806,000
Net income		870,802,000	584,361,000	374,262,000
Net income applicable to HCP, Inc.		856,500,000	568,758,000	360,576,000
Basic earnings per common share (in dollars per share)		$ 1.88	$ 1.30	$ 1.03
Diluted earnings per common share (in dollars per share)		$ 1.88	$ 1.29	$ 1.03
Blackstone JV | Senior housing | Emeritus Corporation
Acquisition
Rental and related revenues	103,600,000	103,600,000
Initial lease term with Emeritus Corporation	5 years
Percentage of operating leases basis spread on variable floor rate	103.00%
Percentage of operating leases basis spread on variable cap rate	130.00%
Blackstone JV | Senior housing | Emeritus Corporation | Real Estate Secured
Acquisition
Number of senior housing communities	9	9
Principal amount of secured debt	$ 52,000,000	$ 52,000,000
Term of loan	4 years
Interest rate on debt, initially (as a percent)	6.10%
Interest rate on debt after four year term (as a percent)	6.80%
Blackstone JV | Senior housing | Minimum | Emeritus Corporation
Acquisition
Rate of increase in rent receivable per year after each of the next four years of initial lease term (as a percent)	3.70%
Rate of increase in rent receivable per year for remaining years of lease term (as a percent)	3.00%
Initial available term of asset pools	14 years
Total initial available term of asset pools	30 years
Blackstone JV | Senior housing | Maximum | Emeritus Corporation
Acquisition
Initial available term of asset pools	16 years
Total initial available term of asset pools	35 years
Blackstone JV | Senior housing | Assisted living
Acquisition
Percentage of units of real estate property	61.00%
Blackstone JV | Senior housing | Independent living
Acquisition
Percentage of units of real estate property	25.00%
Blackstone JV | Senior housing | Memory care
Acquisition
Percentage of units of real estate property	13.00%
Blackstone JV | Senior housing | Skilled nursing
Acquisition
Percentage of units of real estate property	1.00%