Mortgage Loans Credit Quality Indicators - MF (Details) (USD $)	Dec. 31, 2012		Dec. 31, 2011
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment [Line Items]
Total recorded investment	$ 3,007,471,000,000	[1]	$ 2,978,891,000,000	[1]
Multifamily [Member]
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment [Line Items]
Total recorded investment	191,051,000,000	[1],[2],[3]	179,221,000,000	[1],[2],[3]
Multifamily [Member] | Credit Risk Profile by Internally Assigned Grade: Green [Member]
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment [Line Items]
Total recorded investment	154,235,000,000	[1],[2]	131,740,000,000	[1],[2]
Multifamily [Member] | Credit Risk Profile by Internally Assigned Grade: Yellow [Member]
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment [Line Items]
Total recorded investment	21,304,000,000	[1],[2],[4]	28,354,000,000	[1],[2],[4]
Unpaid principal balance loans with no available financial information surrounding credit quality	5,100,000,000		6,900,000,000
Multifamily [Member] | Credit Risk Profile by Internally Assigned Grade: Orange [Member]
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment [Line Items]
Total recorded investment	14,199,000,000	[1],[2]	17,355,000,000	[1],[2]
Multifamily [Member] | Credit Risk Profile by Internally Assigned Grade: Red [Member]
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment [Line Items]
Total recorded investment	$ 1,313,000,000	[1],[2]	$ 1,772,000,000	[1],[2]

[1] Recorded investment consists of unpaid principal balance, unamortized premiums, discounts and other cost basis adjustments, and accrued interest receivable.

[2] Green (loan with acceptable risk); yellow (loan with signs of potential weakness); orange (loan with a well defined weakness that may jeopardize the timely full repayment); and red (loan with a weakness that makes timely collection or liquidation in full more questionable based on existing conditions and values).

[3] Multifamily loans 60-89 days delinquent are included in the seriously delinquent column.

[4] Includes approximately $5.1 billion and $6.9 billion of unpaid principal balance as of December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, classified as yellow due to no available current financial information.