Investments in and Advances to Unconsolidated Joint Ventures (Details 2) (USD $)	12 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended											12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Apr. 07, 2011 HCR ManorCare	Dec. 31, 2012 HCR ManorCare	Dec. 31, 2011 HCR ManorCare	Dec. 31, 2012 HCP Ventures III, LLC item	Dec. 31, 2012 HCP Ventures IV, LLC item	Dec. 31, 2012 HCP Life Science item	Dec. 31, 2012 HCP Life Science Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 HCP Life Science Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Torrey Pines Science Center, LP	Dec. 31, 2012 Britannia Biotech Gateway, LP	Dec. 31, 2012 LASDK, LP	Dec. 31, 2012 Horizon Bay Hyde Park, LLC item	Dec. 31, 2012 Suburban Properties, LLC item	Dec. 31, 2012 Advances to unconsolidated joint ventures, net	Dec. 31, 2012 Edgewood Assisted Living Center, LLC item	Dec. 31, 2012 Seminole Shores Living Center, LLC item	Dec. 31, 2010 HCP Ventures II	Oct. 31, 2010 HCP Ventures II
Company owned interests in entities, accounted under equity method:
Number of medical office buildings							13	54								1
Number of hospitals								4
Number of life science facilities									4
Number of senior housing facilities															1			1	1
Investments in and advances to unconsolidated joint ventures	$ 212,213,000	$ 224,052,000			$ 90,559,000		$ 7,510,000	$ 32,249,000	$ 67,785,000						$ 6,769,000	$ 7,134,000	$ 207,000
Investment reported in liabilities	(1,091,000)																	(417,000)	(674,000)
Investment ownership percentage				9.90%			30.00%	20.00%		50.00%	63.00%	50.00%	55.00%	63.00%	72.00%	67.00%		45.00%	50.00%		35.00%
Ownership percentage presented after adjusting					9.40%
Number of unconsolidated joint ventures									3
Payment to acquire equity method investment				95,000,000
Impairment related to goodwill						865,000,000
Impairment related to straight-line rent assets of HCP Ventures II																				54,500,000
Reduction in DFL income					59,400,000	42,200,000
Impairments of investments in unconsolidated joint ventures			(71,693,000)																	(71,700,000)
Summarized combined financial information for unconsolidated joint ventures:
Real estate, net	3,731,740,000	3,806,187,000
Goodwill and other assets, net	5,734,318,000	5,797,690,000
Total assets	9,466,058,000	9,603,877,000
Capital lease obligations and mortgage debt	6,875,932,000	6,871,743,000
Accounts payable	971,095,000	1,083,581,000
Other partners' capital	1,435,885,000	1,465,536,000
HCP's capital	183,146,000	183,017,000
Total liabilities and partners' capital	9,466,058,000	9,603,877,000
Combined basis difference	28,000,000
Total revenues	4,260,319,000	4,388,376,000	172,972,000
Net loss	(15,865,000)	(827,306,000)	(54,237,000)
HCP's share in earnings	54,455,000	46,750,000	4,770,000
Fees earned by HCP	1,895,000	2,073,000	4,666,000
Distributions received by HCP	$ 6,299,000	$ 5,681,000	$ 9,738,000