Organization

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Organization

Organization

Redwood Trust, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, is a specialty finance company focused on several distinct areas of housing credit, with a mission to help make quality housing, whether rented or owned, accessible to all American households. Our operating platforms occupy a unique position in the housing finance value chain, providing liquidity to growing segments of the U.S. housing market not well served by government programs. We deliver customized housing credit investments to a diverse mix of investors through our best-in-class securitization platforms, whole-loan distribution activities and our publicly-traded securities. Our aggregation, origination and investment activities have evolved to incorporate a diverse mix of residential consumer and residential investor housing credit assets. Our goal is to provide attractive returns to shareholders through a stable and growing stream of earnings and dividends, capital appreciation, and a commitment to technological innovation that facilitates risk-minded scale. We operate our business in three segments: Residential Consumer Mortgage Banking, Residential Investor Mortgage Banking, and Investment Portfolio.

Our primary sources of income are net interest income from our investments and non-interest income from our mortgage banking activities. Net interest income primarily consists of the interest income we earn on investments less the interest expense we incur on borrowed funds and other liabilities. Income from mortgage banking activities is generated through the origination and acquisition of loans, and their subsequent sale, securitization, or transfer to our investment portfolios.

Redwood Trust, Inc. has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”), beginning with its taxable year ended December 31, 1994. We generally refer, collectively, to Redwood Trust, Inc. and those of its subsidiaries that are generally not subject to subsidiary-level corporate income tax as “the REIT” or “our REIT.” We generally refer to subsidiaries of Redwood Trust, Inc. that are subject to subsidiary-level corporate income tax as “our taxable REIT subsidiaries” or “TRS.”

Redwood Trust, Inc. was incorporated in the State of Maryland on April 11, 1994, and commenced operations on August 19, 1994. On October 15, 2019, Redwood acquired CoreVest American Finance Lender, LLC and certain affiliated entities ("CoreVest"), at which time CoreVest became wholly owned by Redwood. On July 1, 2022, Redwood acquired Riverbend Funding, LLC ("Riverbend"), at which time Riverbend became wholly owned by Redwood. The operations of Riverbend were combined with those of CoreVest under the CoreVest brand. References herein to “Redwood,” the “company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” include Redwood Trust, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise requires. In statements regarding qualification as a REIT, such terms refer solely to Redwood Trust, Inc. Refer to Item 1 - Business in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information on our business.