Mortgage loans - Schedule of Loans (Details) - Loans receivable - Residential mortgage - Residential portfolio segment $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2017 USD ($) loan	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) loan
Number of loans
Current \| loan	207	519
Foreclosure \| loan	151	33
Mortgage loans \| loan	442	583
Carrying value
Current	$ 30,222	$ 100,558
Foreclosure	28,690	4,488
Mortgage loans at fair value	67,738	108,036
Unpaid principal balance
Current	42,319	114,757
Foreclosure	44,494	6,023
Mortgage loans	106,976	125,605
Market value of underlying properties
Current	50,282	140,471
Foreclosure	47,663	6,675
Mortgage loans	$ 119,650	$ 153,568
30
Number of loans
Past Due \| loan	32	10
Carrying value
Past Due	$ 4,008	$ 1,082
Unpaid principal balance
Past Due	6,271	1,911
Market value of underlying properties
Past Due	$ 8,567	$ 2,329
60
Number of loans
Past Due \| loan	12	4
Carrying value
Past Due	$ 1,858	$ 286
Unpaid principal balance
Past Due	2,977	623
Market value of underlying properties
Past Due	$ 3,304	$ 663
90
Number of loans
Past Due \| loan	40	17
Carrying value
Past Due	$ 2,960	$ 1,622
Unpaid principal balance
Past Due	10,915	2,291
Market value of underlying properties
Past Due	$ 9,834	$ 3,430
Nonperforming financing receivable
Number of loans
Current \| loan		211
Foreclosure \| loan		2,180
Mortgage loans \| loan		2,891
Carrying value
Current		$ 33,992
Foreclosure		365,772
Mortgage loans at fair value		460,444
Unpaid principal balance
Current		45,568
Foreclosure		551,243
Mortgage loans		697,716
Market value of underlying properties
Current		58,842
Foreclosure		574,546
Mortgage loans		$ 746,272
Nonperforming financing receivable \| 30
Number of loans
Past Due \| loan		66
Carrying value
Past Due		$ 7,898
Unpaid principal balance
Past Due		11,836
Market value of underlying properties
Past Due		$ 13,576
Nonperforming financing receivable \| 60
Number of loans
Past Due \| loan		34
Carrying value
Past Due		$ 4,444
Unpaid principal balance
Past Due		6,364
Market value of underlying properties
Past Due		$ 7,536
Nonperforming financing receivable \| 90
Number of loans
Past Due \| loan		400
Carrying value
Past Due		$ 48,338
Unpaid principal balance
Past Due		82,705
Market value of underlying properties
Past Due		$ 91,772

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-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66008989&loc=SL6953401-111524

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Recorded Investment in financing receivables that are past due at the balance sheet date.

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-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Recorded Investment
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Fair value portion of loan receivable, including, but not limited to, mortgage loans held for investment, finance receivables held for investment, policy loans on insurance contracts.

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