Disposition of Real Estate and Real Estate Investments and Discontinued Operations - Additional Information (Detail) - Property	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Discontinued Operations And Disposal Groups [Abstract]
Number of properties sold	33	29
Number of properties sold under discontinued operations			35

Discontinued operations number of real estate properties sold.

No definition available.

Name:	ddr_DiscontinuedOperationsNumberOfRealEstatePropertiesSold
Namespace Prefix:	ddr_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration