Real Estate Securities, Available for Sale - Investments in CRE Securities (Details) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2020 USD ($) security	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) security
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Fair Value	$ 60,010	$ 252,824
Collateral pledged
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Carrying value of CMBS Credit Facilities serving as collateral	$ 60,000
Real estate securities, available for sale
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Count \| security	16	43,000
Principal Amount	$ 108,512	$ 292,284
Total Discount	(48,502)	(55,981)
Amortized Cost	60,010	236,303
Cumulative Unrealized Gain on Investments	0	17,084
Cumulative Unrealized (Loss) on Investments	0	(563)
Fair Value	$ 60,010	$ 252,824
Weighted Average, Coupon (in percentage)	3.37%	3.19%
Weighted Average, Unleveraged Current Yield (in percentage)	0.00%	7.12%

Debt Securities, Available-for-Sale, Discount

No definition available.

Name:	clnc_DebtSecuritiesAvailableforSaleDiscount
Namespace Prefix:	clnc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Debt Securities, Available-for-Sale, Number of Securities

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	clnc_DebtSecuritiesAvailableforSaleNumberofSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	clnc_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Debt Securities, Available-for-Sale, Principal Amount

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	clnc_DebtSecuritiesAvailableforSalePrincipalAmount
Namespace Prefix:	clnc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Debt Securities, Available-for-Sale, Weighted Average Coupon Percentage

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	clnc_DebtSecuritiesAvailableforSaleWeightedAverageCouponPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	clnc_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Debt Securities, Available-for-Sale, Weighted Average Current Yield Percentage

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	clnc_DebtSecuritiesAvailableforSaleWeightedAverageCurrentYieldPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	clnc_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount, before tax, of unrealized gain in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) on investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121645371&loc=d3e27161-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleDebtSecuritiesAccumulatedGrossUnrealizedGainBeforeTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount, before tax, of unrealized loss in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) on investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121645371&loc=d3e27161-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleDebtSecuritiesAccumulatedGrossUnrealizedLossBeforeTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amortized cost of investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121645371&loc=d3e27161-111563

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 326
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121558606&loc=SL82898722-210454

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleDebtSecuritiesAmortizedCostBasis
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03(6))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120398452&loc=d3e534808-122878

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 326
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121558606&loc=SL82898722-210454

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121553693&loc=d3e26610-111562

Reference 4: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (aa)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121645371&loc=d3e27161-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesDebtSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of restricted investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 860
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1A
-Subparagraph (b)(1)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109249958&loc=SL6224234-111729

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtSecuritiesAvailableForSaleRestricted
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfAvailableForSaleSecuritiesLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_CollateralAxis=us-gaap_CollateralPledgedMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_CommercialMortgageBackedSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: