REAL ESTATE EQUITY SECURITIES (Narrative) (Details) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($) investment shares	Mar. 31, 2018 USD ($)
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Number of investments in equity securities \| investment	3
Dividend income from real estate equity securities	$ 1,776	$ 1,051
Whitestone REIT \| Common Stock
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Issuance of common stock (in shares) \| shares	1,686,734
Issuance of common stock	$ 24,100

Amount of operating dividend and interest income, including amortization and accretion of premiums and discounts, on available-for-sale securities.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 225
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-04.2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879574&loc=d3e536633-122882

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 35
-Paragraph 4
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82895926&loc=d3e24721-111560

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Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration