Mergers and Acquisitions (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended					0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		0 Months Ended				3 Months Ended	0 Months Ended			0 Months Ended			5 Months Ended	0 Months Ended								3 Months Ended	0 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	0 Months Ended								0 Months Ended				3 Months Ended	0 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014 property	Mar. 31, 2013 property	Dec. 31, 2013	Sep. 15, 2013	Mar. 31, 2014 Series F Preferred Stock [Member]	Jul. 24, 2013 ARCP Fortress Portfolio [Member] property	Mar. 31, 2014 ARCP Fortress Portfolio [Member] property	Oct. 02, 2013 ARCP Fortress Portfolio [Member]	Feb. 07, 2014 Cole Merger [Member]	Feb. 07, 2014 Cole Merger [Member] Cash [Member] Option One [Member]	Feb. 07, 2014 Cole Merger [Member] Cash [Member] Option Two [Member]	Jul. 24, 2013 Fortress Portfolio [Member] property	Mar. 31, 2014 Fortress Portfolio [Member]	Feb. 28, 2013 ARCP Merger [Member] Common Stock [Member] Option One [Member]	Feb. 28, 2013 ARCP Merger [Member] Cash [Member] Option Two [Member]	Feb. 28, 2013 ARCP shares converted from ARCT III shares [Member] Cash [Member] Option Two [Member]	Feb. 07, 2014 CapLease [Member]	Nov. 05, 2013 CapLease [Member]		Mar. 31, 2014 CapLease [Member]	Nov. 05, 2013 CapLease [Member] Cash [Member] Preferred Stock [Member]	Nov. 05, 2013 CapLease [Member] Cash [Member] Common Stock [Member]	Nov. 05, 2013 CapLease [Member] Cash [Member] OP Units [Member]	Nov. 05, 2013 CapLease [Member] Cash [Member] Restricted Stock [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] Series F Preferred Stock [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] Common Stock [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] OP Units [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] OP Units [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] Cash [Member]	Aug. 08, 2013 ARCP Inland Portfolio [Member] property company	Mar. 31, 2014 ARCP Inland Portfolio [Member] property	Feb. 28, 2013 ARCP [Member] ARCP Merger [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 ARCP [Member] ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] Series F Preferred Stock [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 ARCP [Member] ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] Common Stock [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 ARCP [Member] ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] Class B Units [Member]	Aug. 08, 2013 ARCP [Member] ARCP Inland Portfolio [Member] company	Mar. 31, 2014 American Realty Capital Advisors III LLC [Member] Advisor [Member] Annual Targeted Investor Return [Member] Pre-tax Non-compounded Return on Capital Contribution [Member]	Feb. 28, 2013 American Realty Capital Advisors III LLC [Member] Advisor [Member] Annual Targeted Investor Return [Member] Pre-tax Non-compounded Return on Capital Contribution [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 American Realty Capital Advisors III LLC [Member] ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] Advisor [Member] Annual Targeted Investor Return [Member] Pre-tax Non-compounded Return on Capital Contribution [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 ARCP IV [Member] ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] Special Limited Partner [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 ARCP IV [Member] ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] Series F OP Units [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 ARCP IV [Member] ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] OP Units [Member]	Feb. 28, 2013 American Realty Capital III Special Limited Partnership, LLC [Member] ARCP Merger [Member] Common Stock [Member] Entity Wholly Owned by Sponsor [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 American Realty Capital III Special Limited Partnership, LLC [Member] ARCP Merger [Member] Common Stock [Member] Entity Wholly Owned by Sponsor [Member]	Feb. 28, 2013 American Realty Capital III Special Limited Partnership, LLC [Member] ARCP Merger [Member] Common Stock [Member] Entity Wholly Owned by Sponsor [Member] Post-Conversion [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 American Realty Capital III Special Limited Partnership, LLC [Member] ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] Common Stock [Member] Entity Wholly Owned by Sponsor [Member] Post-Conversion [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 American Realty Capital Real Estate Partners, LLC [Member] ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member]	Jan. 03, 2014 American Realty Capital Real Estate Partners, LLC [Member] ARCT IV / ARCP Merger [Member] Class B Units [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Convertible stock issued during period, shares																																	0.95
Convertible stock issued during period, value															$ 12.00						$ 25	$ 8.50	$ 8.50	$ 8.50						$ 9.00
Business combination, consideration transferred									$ 7,467,643,000		$ 13.82		$ 400,900,000	$ 350,000,000																	$ 501,000,000																	$ 750,000
Shares, outstanding														148,100,000	29,200,000	27,700,000
Percentage of shares outstanding															16.50%
Common stock, issued	202,344,455		202,344,455											140,700,000
Partner ownership interest, Issuance of Units																																												7,300,000		7,300,000
Units minimum holding period																													2 years																1 year
Payments to acquire businesses, gross									181,775,000								181,774,000	920,697,000	[1]	920,697,000					650,900,000
Business acquisition, equity interest issued or issuable, number of shares									400,000																	42,200,000	36,900,000									1,200,000					2,800,000	700,000	600,000						100,000
Percentage of stock, designated cumulative preferred stock					6.70%																					6.70%
Business acquisition, equity interest issued or issuable, per share conversion rate										$ 1.0929																								$ 0.5937	$ 0.5190	$ 2.3961					$ 22.50
Related party transaction, cumulative capital investment return, as a percentage of benchmark																																						6.00%		6.00%
Related party transaction, cumulative capital investment return																																							557,300,000	358,300,000
Subordinated distributions of net sale proceeds																																															63,200,000
Business acquisition, equity interest issued or issuable, value assigned																																									78,200,000
Conversion of stock, shares converted																												6,700,000
Number of real estate properties						120	79					196																			33
Real estate investments, at cost	17,318,543,000		7,450,111,000					200,300,000				972,500,000	601,200,000																		2,300,000,000	288,200,000
Number of properties acquired	215	112					41																									32
Common stock, par value	$ 0.01		$ 0.01	$ 0.01						$ 0.01
Business acquisition, percentage of voting interests acquired									98.00%
Percent of voting interests that received cash									2.00%
Issuance of stock									$ 520,800,000
Shares issued (in shares)									2,800,000
Number of companies																															67						10
Remaining properties to acquire																																1

[1] As reported in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013.