Real Estate Securities - Fair Values of Real Estate Securities (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands		Jun. 30, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]
Trading		$ 116,141	$ 111,606
Available-for-sale		1,041,458	1,267,624
Total Real Estate Securities	[1]	$ 1,157,599	$ 1,379,230

[1] Our consolidated balance sheets include assets of consolidated variable interest entities (“VIEs”) that can only be used to settle obligations of these VIEs and liabilities of consolidated VIEs for which creditors do not have recourse to the primary beneficiary (Redwood Trust, Inc.). At June 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, assets of consolidated VIEs totaled $1,622,636 and $1,900,208, respectively, and liabilities of consolidated VIEs totaled $1,263,249 and $1,546,490, respectively. See Note 4 for further discussion.