Short-Term Debt - Remaining Maturities of Short Term Debt (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands		Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt	[1],[2]	$ 2,329,145	$ 2,400,279
Within 30 days
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		873,138
31 to 90 days
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		462,971
Over 90 days
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		993,036
Line of Credit
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		2,176,591	1,937,920
Line of Credit | Held-for-sale residential loans
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		185,894	860,650
Line of Credit | Business purpose residential loans
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		814,118	88,380
Line of Credit | Real estate securities
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		1,176,579
Line of Credit | Within 30 days
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		873,138
Line of Credit | Within 30 days | Held-for-sale residential loans
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		49,084
Line of Credit | Within 30 days | Business purpose residential loans
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		0
Line of Credit | Within 30 days | Real estate securities
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		824,054
Line of Credit | 31 to 90 days
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		462,971
Line of Credit | 31 to 90 days | Held-for-sale residential loans
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		110,446
Line of Credit | 31 to 90 days | Business purpose residential loans
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		0
Line of Credit | 31 to 90 days | Real estate securities
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		352,525
Line of Credit | Over 90 days
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		840,482
Line of Credit | Over 90 days | Held-for-sale residential loans
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		26,364
Line of Credit | Over 90 days | Business purpose residential loans
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		814,118
Line of Credit | Over 90 days | Real estate securities
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		0
Servicer advance financing
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		152,554	$ 262,740
Servicer advance financing | Within 30 days
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		0
Servicer advance financing | 31 to 90 days
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		0
Servicer advance financing | Over 90 days
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term debt		$ 152,554

[1] Includes $201 million of convertible notes at December 31, 2018, which were reclassified from Long-term debt, net to Short-term debt as the maturity of the notes was less than one year as of the date presented. See Note 13 for further discussion.

[2] 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 Redwood Trust, Inc. or its affiliates. At December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, assets of consolidated VIEs totaled $11,931,869 and $6,331,191, respectively. At December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, liabilities of consolidated VIEs totaled $10,717,072 and $5,709,807, respectively. See Note 4 for further discussion.