Consolidated Securitization Vehicles and Other Variable Interest Entities - Narrative (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands		3 Months Ended
		Mar. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Assets	[1]	$ 19,241,863	$ 27,118,671
Liabilities	[1]	15,998,009	23,165,378
Non-Agency RMBS
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Unconsolidated VIEs, individual investments (Less than $1 million)		1,700,000
Unconsolidated VIEs, aggregate investment			2,000,000
Non-Agency RMBS | Minimum
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Unconsolidated VIEs, individual investments (Less than $1 million)		1,000	1,000
Non-Agency RMBS | Maximum
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Unconsolidated VIEs, individual investments (Less than $1 million)		160,000	191,000
Subprime | Residential Mortgage
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Financing receivable, purchases		883,000	1,500,000
Variable Interest Entities, Primary Beneficiary, Aggregated Disclosure
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Assets		12,334,195	12,544,744
Liabilities		7,777,605	8,064,235
Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary, Aggregated Disclosure
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Variable interest entity, reporting entity involvement, maximum loss exposure, amount		$ 1,500,000	$ 1,600,000

[1] The Company's consolidated statements of financial condition include assets of consolidated variable interest entities (“VIEs”) that can only be used to settle obligations and liabilities of the VIE for which creditors do not have recourse to the primary beneficiary (Chimera Investment Corporation). As of March 31, 2020, and December 31, 2019, total assets of consolidated VIEs were $12,334,195 and $12,544,744, respectively, and total liabilities of consolidated VIEs were$7,777,605 and $8,064,235, respectively. See Note 8 for further discussion.