v3.19.1

Investment in Loans (Schedule of Investments in Loans) (Details) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($)
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Unpaid Principal Balance	$ 1,026,983
Fair Value	1,014,990	[1]
Residential mortgage loans
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Unpaid Principal Balance	577,880
Fair Value	583,252
Commercial mortgage loans
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Unpaid Principal Balance	264,932
Fair Value	239,623
Consumer loans
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Unpaid Principal Balance	184,171
Fair Value	$ 192,115
[1] Ellington Financial Inc.'s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet includes assets and liabilities of variable interest entities it has consolidated. See Note 9 for additional details on Ellington Financial Inc.'s consolidated variable interest entities.

X

- Definition

Financing Receivable, Unpaid Principal Balance

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	efc_FinancingReceivableUnpaidPrincipalBalance
Namespace Prefix:	efc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Loans Receivable, Including Held-for-sale, Fair Value Disclosure

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	efc_LoansReceivableIncludingHeldforsaleFairValueDisclosure
Namespace Prefix:	efc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

X

- 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.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AccountsNotesAndLoansReceivableLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivablePortfolioSegmentAxis=us-gaap_ResidentialPortfolioSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivablePortfolioSegmentAxis=us-gaap_CommercialPortfolioSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivablePortfolioSegmentAxis=us-gaap_ConsumerPortfolioSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: