Earnings Per Share (Details) $ / shares in Units, shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands		3 Months Ended						9 Months Ended
	Feb. 01, 2019	Sep. 30, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2020 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jan. 31, 2018 shares
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Net income (loss)		$ 6,430	$ (240,584)	$ (80,141)	$ (401,995)	$ (110,790)	$ 14,957	$ (314,295)	$ (497,828)
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests:
Investment Entities		(1,222)			37,445			6,362	38,623
Operating Partnership		(201)			8,519			7,109	10,741
Net income (loss) attributable to Colony Credit Real Estate, Inc. common stockholders		5,007			(356,031)			(300,824)	(448,464)
Numerator:
Net income allocated to participating securities (non-vested shares)		0			(616)			(322)	(1,709)
Net income (loss) attributable to Colony Credit Real Estate, Inc. common stockholders		$ 5,007			$ (356,647)			$ (301,146)	$ (450,173)
Denominator:
Weighted average shares outstanding (in shares) | shares		128,583			128,541			128,537	128,341
Net income (loss) per common share - basic and diluted (in dollars per share) | $ / shares		$ 0.04			$ (2.77)			$ (2.34)	$ (3.51)
Conversion of stock, conversion ratio	1							1
Class B-3
Denominator:
Common stock, shares outstanding (in shares) | shares										44,400