Investments in and Advances to Unconsolidated Joint Ventures (Details 2) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended					9 Months Ended									3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010	Dec. 31, 2010	Sep. 30, 2011 HCRMC Operations, LLC	Sep. 30, 2011 HCP Ventures III, LLC Property	Sep. 30, 2011 HCP Ventures IV, LLC Property	Sep. 30, 2011 Maximum HCP Life Science	Sep. 30, 2011 Minimum HCP Life Science	Sep. 30, 2011 HCP Life Science JointVenture Property	Sep. 30, 2011 Torrey Pines Science Center, LP	Sep. 30, 2011 Britannia Biotech Gateway, LP	Sep. 30, 2011 LASDK, LP	Sep. 30, 2011 Horizon Bay Hyde Park, LLC Property	Sep. 30, 2011 Suburban Properties, LLC Property	Sep. 30, 2011 Advances to unconsolidated joint ventures, net	Sep. 30, 2011 Edgewood Assisted Living Center, LLC Property	Sep. 30, 2011 Seminole Shores Living Center, LLC Property	Sep. 30, 2010 HCP Ventures II	Sep. 30, 2010 HCP Ventures II	Oct. 12, 2010 HCP Ventures II
Company owned interests in entities, accounted under equity method:
Number of medical office buildings							13	54								1
Number of senior housing facilities															1			1	1
Number of hospitals								4
Number of life science facilities											4
Investments in and advances to unconsolidated joint ventures	$ 225,979,000		$ 225,979,000		$ 195,847,000	$ 98,406,000	$ 9,245,000	$ 36,065,000			$ 66,335,000				$ 7,555,000	$ 8,176,000	$ 197,000
Investment reported in liabilities	(1,251,000)		(1,251,000)															(348,000)	(903,000)
Investment ownership percentage						9.90%	30.00%	20.00%	63.00%	50.00%		50.00%	55.00%	63.00%	75.00%	67.00%		45.00%	50.00%			35.00%
Ownership percentage subject to dilution						9.30%
Number of unconsolidated joint ventures											3
Payment to acquire equity method investment						95,000,000
Impairment related to straight-line rent assets of HCP Ventures II				71,700,000																54,500,000	54,500,000
Summarized combined financial information for unconsolidated joint ventures:
Real estate, net	3,821,331,000		3,821,331,000		1,633,209,000
Goodwill	3,495,500,000		3,495,500,000
Other assets, net	3,234,931,000		3,234,931,000		131,714,000
Total assets	10,551,762,000		10,551,762,000		1,764,923,000
Capital lease obligations and other debt	6,494,000,000		6,494,000,000
Mortgage debt	499,336,000		499,336,000		1,148,839,000
Accounts payable	1,061,348,000		1,061,348,000		32,120,000
Other partners' capital	2,234,366,000		2,234,366,000		415,697,000
HCP's capital	262,712,000		262,712,000		168,267,000
Total liabilities and partners' capital	10,551,762,000		10,551,762,000		1,764,923,000
Combined basis difference	38,000,000		38,000,000
Total revenues	1,123,742,000	40,733,000	2,174,711,000	133,530,000
Net income (loss)	31,076,000	(56,387,000)	9,198,000	(51,992,000)
HCP's share in earnings	17,050,000	209,000	32,798,000	4,078,000
Impairments of investments in unconsolidated joint ventures		(71,693,000)		(71,693,000)																(71,700,000)
Fees earned by HCP	494,000	1,157,000	1,605,000	3,755,000
Distributions received by HCP	$ 1,271,000	$ 2,539,000	$ 4,398,000	$ 7,910,000