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Residential Whole Loans (Purchased Credit Impaired Loans - Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Purchased credit impaired loans
Financing Receivable, Impaired [Line Items]
Allowance for loan loss	$ 244	$ 968	$ 330	$ 990

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- Definition

The reserve to cover probable credit losses related to specifically identified fixed maturity real estate loans as well as probable credit losses inherent in the remainder of that loan portfolio.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 310
-Section 45
-Paragraph 4
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118959141&loc=d3e21338-158488

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AllowanceForLoanAndLeaseLossesRealEstate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

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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.

+ Details

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

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=mfa_CreditImpairedLoansMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: