Principles of Consolidation - Cash Flows Related to Unconsolidated Variable Interest Entity's Sponsored by Redwood (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2015	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2015	Jun. 30, 2014
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Proceeds from new transfers	$ 676,596	$ 267,776	$ 1,018,312	$ 267,776
MSR fees received	3,700	3,624	7,470	7,047
Funding of compensating interest	(107)	(43)	(197)	(76)
Cash flows received on retained securities	$ 10,706	$ 15,924	$ 23,351	$ 28,227

Cash Flows between a transferor and a transferee attributable to newly transferred assets related to either a securitization, asset-backed financing arrangement, or similar transfer in which the transferor has continuing involvement with the transferred financial assets underlying the transaction (including, but not limited to, servicing, recourse, and restrictions on transferor's interests in the transferred financial assets).

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 860

-SubTopic 20

-Section 50

-Paragraph 3

-Subparagraph b

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=13989330&loc=d3e107207-111719

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- Definition

Cash flows between transferor and transferee in payment of service fees in advance, prior to or in contemplation of a securitization, asset-backed financing arrangement, or similar transfer in which the transferor will have continuing involvement with the transferred financial assets underlying the transaction (including, but not limited to, servicing, recourse, and restrictions on transferor's interests in the transferred financial assets).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 860

-SubTopic 20

-Section 50

-Paragraph 3

-Subparagraph d

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=13989330&loc=d3e107207-111719

+ Details

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- Definition

Cash Flows between a transferee and a transferor attributable to servicing fees related to a securitization, asset-backed financing arrangement, or similar transfer in which the transferor has continuing involvement with the transferred financial assets underlying the transaction (including, but not limited to, servicing, recourse, and restrictions on transferor's interests in the transferred financial assets).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 860

-SubTopic 20

-Section 50

-Paragraph 3

-Subparagraph d

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=13989330&loc=d3e107207-111719

+ Details

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Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Cash flows between transferee and transferor in payment of the transferor's beneficial interest related to a securitization, asset-backed financing arrangement, or similar transfer in which the transferor has continuing involvement with the transferred financial assets underlying the transaction.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
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- 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.

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