INVESTMENTS IN RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LOANS - Narrative (Details) $ in Thousands				1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			9 Months Ended
		Sep. 25, 2015 USD ($) loan	Jun. 25, 2015 USD ($) loan	Feb. 28, 2013	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($) loan	Sep. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Apr. 06, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Oct. 03, 2014 USD ($)
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Line Items]
Purchase of residential mortgage loans								$ 664	$ 620,038
Proceeds from sales of purchased residential mortgage loans, held-for-sale								722,961	249,690
Gain (loss) on sale of residential mortgage loans, net					$ 226		$ 0	$ 32,851	$ 0
Securitized loan amount												$ 2,600,000
Acquired real estate owned		$ 1,500	$ 1,300
Threshold period past due								60 days
Real Estate Owned assets total					29,400			$ 29,400
Government Guaranteed Mortgage Loans upon Foreclosure Receivable [Member]
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Line Items]
Loans receivable					58,400			58,400
Nationstar [Member]
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Line Items]
Interest in reverse mortgage loans				30.00%
Reverse Mortgage Loans [Member]
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Line Items]
Carrying value of mortgage loans					20,316			$ 20,316			$ 24,965
Number of loans | loan	[1],[2]							150
Interest in reverse mortgage loans				70.00%				70.00%
PCI residential mortgage loans in the process of foreclosure, unpaid principal balance					400			$ 400
Residential Mortgage [Member]
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Line Items]
PCI residential mortgage loans in the process of foreclosure, unpaid principal balance					353,900			353,900
Non-Agency RMBS [Member]
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Line Items]
Carrying value of mortgage loans		$ 4,500	$ 9,100
Number of loans | loan		7	18
Residential Mortgage [Member]
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Line Items]
Unpaid Principal Balance (“UPB”) of Underlying Mortgages		$ 216,300	$ 369,000
Purchase of residential mortgage loans		$ 223,100	388,800
Residential Mortgage [Member] | Non-Performing Loans [Member]
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Line Items]
Unpaid Principal Balance (“UPB”) of Underlying Mortgages			34,500		1,200,000			1,200,000
Carrying value of mortgage loans					997,100			997,100
Proceeds from sales of purchased residential mortgage loans, held-for-sale								1,000,000
Gain (loss) on sale of residential mortgage loans, net								29,800
Payments to retain loans			31,700
Residential Mortgage [Member] | Non-Performing Loans [Member] | GNMA EBO [Member]
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Line Items]
Unpaid Principal Balance (“UPB”) of Underlying Mortgages					$ 424,300	$ 424,300		424,300		$ 424,300
Purchase of residential mortgage loans						$ 418,800		$ 418,800
Residential Mortgage [Member] | Performing Loans [Member]
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Line Items]
Securitized loan amount			334,500
Loss on securitization			2,800
Payments to acquire interest only notes			$ 14,900

[1] FICO scores are not used in determining how much a borrower can access via a reverse mortgage loan.

[2] Represents a 70% interest that New Residential holds in reverse mortgage loans. The average loan balance outstanding based on total UPB is $0.4 million. Approximately 75% of these loans have reached a termination event. As a result, the borrower can no longer make draws on these loans. Each loan matures upon the occurrence of a termination event.