CONSOLIDATED FUNDS AND VENTURES (Details Textual) (USD $)	3 Months Ended			6 Months Ended					6 Months Ended						6 Months Ended			6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2013 Number		Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2013 Number		Jun. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012 Number		Jun. 30, 2013 SA Fund [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 LIHTC Funds [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 LIHTC Funds [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Limited Partner of SA Fund [Member]	Jul. 03, 2013 Lower Tier Property Partnerships [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Lower Tier Property Partnerships [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Overseas Private Investment Corporation [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] SA Fund [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] SA Fund [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Real Estate Investment [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Real Estate Investment [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Minimum [Member] LIHTC Funds [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Maximum [Member] LIHTC Funds [Member]
Number of Consolidated Funds	11	[1]		11	[1]		11	[1]
General Partner Ownership Interests of Funds Remaining																				0.01%	0.04%
Guarantor Obligations, Maximum Exposure, Undiscounted	$ 26,178,000			$ 26,178,000			$ 26,554,000			$ 660,000,000	$ 660,000,000
General Partners' Contributed Capital									128,000,000			3,400,000			80,000,000
General Partners Contributed Capital Funded									113,300,000			2,900,000			49,100,000
Limited Liability Company (LLC) or Limited Partnership (LP), Members or Limited Partners, Ownership Interest									2.70%						2.70%					0.01%	0.04%
Bond Investment in Lower Tier Property Partnerships	384,800,000			384,800,000			421,300,000						62,800,000
Depreciation																		4,300,000	3,900,000
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life																		40 years
Real Estate, Investments Held-for-sale, Fair Value	151,800,000			151,800,000
Unrealized Mark to Market Gains in Real Estate Investments Held-for-sale				15,300,000
Eliminated Bond Investments Pledged as Collateral in Real Estate Investments Held-for-sale	88,500,000			88,500,000
Investment in Funds Formed to Invest in Housing Development Projects and Housing Sector Companies	156,700,000			156,700,000			161,400,000
Capital Contributed to Sale and Rental Properties									165,600,000
Capital Contributed to Sale and Rental Properties Funded									128,700,000
Maximum Amount of Debt Allowed									80,000,000
Proceeds from Issuance of Long-term Debt									49,100,000
Derivative assets																7,000,000	1,000,000
Derivative, Collateral, Right to Reclaim Cash									3,400,000
Debt, Current									5,900,000
Income (Loss) From Discontinued Operations, Net Of Tax, Attributable To Noncontrolling Interest	0		653,000	(1,190,000)		1,289,000													1,200,000
Property, Plant and Equipment, Gross, Total														43,500,000
Foreign Currency Transaction Gain (Loss), Realized	$ 10,600,000			$ 24,600,000

[1] Net losses allocable to noncontrolling interests in CFVs have been adjusted to exclude noncontrolling interests related to IHS.