Other Income - Net (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Jul. 31, 2015	Jul. 31, 2014	Jul. 31, 2015	Jul. 31, 2014
Other Nonoperating Income By Component [Line Items]
Interest income	$ 568	$ 222	$ 1,754	$ 2,111
Income from Ancillary Businesses	4,667	2,203	18,392	6,153
Management fee income from unconsolidated entities	3,051	1,840	9,441	4,294
Retained customer deposits	1,423	1,287	3,735	2,597
Income from land sales	$ 2,952	$ 9,855	$ 10,302	21,042
Directly expensed interest				(656)
Other	$ 521	$ 819	$ 1,474	2,613
Total other income - net	14,070	20,731	50,005	48,373
Revenues and expenses of non-core ancillary businesses
Revenue	32,017	26,988	88,244	70,736
Expense	27,350	24,785	69,852	64,583
Revenues and expenses from land sales [Abstract]
Revenue	12,281	$ 76,424	139,027	$ 174,576
Deferred gain on land sale to joint venture
Expense	(9,329)	$ (66,569)	(119,465)	$ (153,534)
Income from land sales	2,952	9,855	10,302	21,042
Gibraltar [Member]
Other Nonoperating Income By Component [Line Items]
Gibraltar	$ 888	$ 4,505	4,907	$ 10,219
Home Building Joint Venture Metro New York Three [Member]
Revenues and expenses from land sales [Abstract]
Revenue			78,500
Deferred gain on land sale to joint venture			$ (9,260)