Earnings Per Share (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands			3 Months Ended				6 Months Ended
	Feb. 01, 2019	Jan. 31, 2018 shares	Jun. 30, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Mar. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Net income (loss)			$ (240,584)	$ (80,141)	$ (110,790)	$ 14,957	$ (320,725)	$ (95,833)
Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interests:
Investment Entities			8,107		880		7,584	1,178
Operating Partnership			5,418		2,569		7,310	2,222
Net income (loss) attributable to Colony Credit Real Estate, Inc. common stockholders			(227,059)		(107,341)		(305,831)	(92,433)
Numerator:
Net income allocated to participating securities (non-vested shares)			0		(627)		(322)	(1,093)
Net income (loss) attributable to Colony Credit Real Estate, Inc. common stockholders			$ (227,059)		$ (107,968)		$ (306,153)	$ (93,526)
Denominator:
Weighted average shares outstanding (in shares) | shares			128,539,000		128,534,000		128,513,000	128,240,000
Net income (loss) per common share - basic and diluted (in dollars per share) | $ / shares			$ (1.77)		$ (0.84)		$ (2.38)	$ (0.73)
Conversion of stock, conversion ratio	1	1
Antidilutive securities excluded from computation of earnings per share (in shares) | shares							3,075,623
Option conversion ratio							1
Class B-3
Denominator:
Common stock, shares outstanding (in shares) | shares		44,400,000