Property Dispositions and Discontinued Operations (Narratives) (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	6 Months Ended									3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	6 Months Ended					3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended			6 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2014 property	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2014 property	Jun. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013 property	Jun. 30, 2014 Manufacturing facility	Jun. 30, 2014 Previous Tenant Manufacturing facility	Jun. 30, 2014 Third Party Purchaser Manufacturing facility	Jun. 30, 2013 Jointly Owned Investments	Jun. 30, 2014 CPA: 16 - Global	Mar. 31, 2014 CPA: 16 - Global	Jan. 31, 2014 CPA: 16 - Global	Dec. 31, 2013 Assets held-for-sale property	Jan. 31, 2014 Assets held-for-sale CPA: 16 - Global property	Jun. 30, 2014 Assets held-for-sale	Jun. 30, 2013 Assets held-for-sale	Jun. 30, 2014 Assets held-for-sale	Jun. 30, 2013 Assets held-for-sale	Dec. 31, 2013 Assets held-for-sale property	Jun. 30, 2014 Assets held-for-sale CPA: 16 - Global	Jun. 30, 2013 CPA: 15 property	Jun. 30, 2013 CPA: 15 Jointly Owned Investments	Jul. 31, 2014 CPA: 15 Jointly Owned Investments Subsequent Event property	Jun. 30, 2013 Affiliate Jointly Owned Investments	Jun. 30, 2014 Real Estate Ownership	Jun. 30, 2013 Real Estate Ownership	Jun. 30, 2014 Real Estate Ownership	Jun. 30, 2013 Real Estate Ownership	Dec. 31, 2013 Real Estate Ownership	Jun. 30, 2014 Real Estate Ownership Assets held-for-sale	Feb. 28, 2014 Domestic	Jun. 30, 2014 Domestic property	Jun. 30, 2013 Domestic property	Jun. 30, 2013 Domestic CPA: 15 property	Dec. 31, 2012 Domestic CPA: 15	Jun. 30, 2014 Domestic Real Estate Ownership	Jun. 30, 2013 Domestic Real Estate Ownership	Jun. 30, 2014 Domestic Real Estate Ownership	Jun. 30, 2013 Domestic Real Estate Ownership	Dec. 31, 2013 Domestic Real Estate Ownership
Discontinued Operation Additional Disclosures
Revenues	$ 252,907,000	$ 112,221,000	$ 461,916,000	$ 218,251,000											$ 5,100,000	$ 800,000	$ 6,000,000	$ 1,500,000							$ 176,734,000	$ 77,657,000	$ 311,806,000	$ 154,141,000								$ 119,652,000	$ 54,189,000	$ 207,112,000	$ 107,831,000
Net Income attributable to W. P. Carey	64,739,000	43,167,000	178,915,000	57,348,000											800,000	300,000	1,600,000	700,000							61,469,000	43,107,000	173,157,000	59,799,000								51,009,000	41,432,000	170,625,000	53,442,000
Number of properties held for sale																			9
Properties sold																					2		2									5	4	2
Number of real estate properties	686		686										9	10
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		15,100,000
Financing cost																				15,000,000
Non-recourse debt	2,823,415,000		2,823,415,000		1,492,410,000					1,768,288,000	1,768,288,000	1,768,288,000													2,823,415,000		2,823,415,000		1,492,410,000		6,000,000					1,641,439,000		1,641,439,000		874,035,000
Gain (loss) on the sale of real estate			23,930,000	50,000		8,400,000											28,000,000			(300,000)											100,000	(3,800,000)		1,100,000
Impairment recognized on asset to be disposed																			3,100,000		5,000,000														200,000
Payment of mortgage obligation																	11,400,000			18,900,000														5,700,000
Gain (Loss) on extinguishment of debt, net of tax			344,000	(181,000)													(100,000)			(1,200,000)														100,000
Goodwill allocation adjustment			2,743,000																								2,743,000
Contract selling price						5,800,000															7,300,000	16,400,000
Goodwill, allocation																												1,100,000		7,000,000
Foreign deferred taxes adjustment			7,212,000																								7,212,000
Contract termination income							4,400,000	1,400,000													2,600,000
Jointly owned investments, ownership percentage									44.00%															56.00%
Increase in equity method investments			$ 459,000	$ 1,455,000
Properties sold or reclassified during the period					23