Real Estate Transactions - Investments in Real Estate (Details) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($) property
Real Estate [Abstract]
Payments to acquire real estate	$ 21,000
Real Estate [Line Items]
Number of properties acquired \| property		20
Consideration, Cash Paid/Debt Settled		$ 560,753
Consideration, Liabilities assumed		5,425
Assets Acquired, Real Estate		527,815
Assets Acquired, Net Intangibles		38,363
SHOP
Real Estate [Line Items]
Consideration, Cash Paid/Debt Settled		44,258
Consideration, Liabilities assumed		797
Assets Acquired, Real Estate		37,940
Assets Acquired, Net Intangibles		7,115
Life science
Real Estate [Line Items]
Consideration, Cash Paid/Debt Settled		315,255
Consideration, Liabilities assumed		3,524
Assets Acquired, Real Estate		305,760
Assets Acquired, Net Intangibles		13,019
Medical office
Real Estate [Line Items]
Consideration, Cash Paid/Debt Settled		201,240
Consideration, Liabilities assumed		1,104
Assets Acquired, Real Estate		184,115
Assets Acquired, Net Intangibles		$ 18,229

The total of consideration for the business acquisition that took the form of cash paid or debt settled.

No definition available.

Name:	hcp_BusinessCombinationConsiderationCashPaidAndDebtSettled
Namespace Prefix:	hcp_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number Of Properties Acquired

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	hcp_NumberOfPropertiesAcquired
Namespace Prefix:	hcp_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of intangible assets, excluding goodwill, acquired at the acquisition date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84161108&loc=d3e4845-128472

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessCombinationRecognizedIdentifiableAssetsAcquiredAndLiabilitiesAssumedIntangibleAssetsOtherThanGoodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of liabilities assumed at the acquisition date.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessCombinationRecognizedIdentifiableAssetsAcquiredAndLiabilitiesAssumedLiabilities
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The amount of property, plant, and equipment recognized as of the acquisition date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 10
-Section 55
-Paragraph 37
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108330185&loc=d3e2207-128464

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84161108&loc=d3e4845-128472

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessCombinationRecognizedIdentifiableAssetsAcquiredAndLiabilitiesAssumedPropertyPlantAndEquipment
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The cash outflow from the acquisition of a piece of land, anything permanently fixed to it, including buildings, structures on it and so forth; includes real estate intended to generate income for the owner; excludes real estate acquired for use by the owner.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 13
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109223946&loc=d3e3213-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_PaymentsToAcquireRealEstate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RealEstateAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RealEstateLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=hcp_SeniorHousingOperatingPortfolioMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=hcp_LifescienceMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=hcp_MedicalOfficeMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: