Fair Value Disclosures (Level 4 inventory fv) (Details 3) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended						6 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Apr. 30, 2020 USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2020 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2019 USD ($)
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Inventory Write-down	$ 14,214				$ 19,394		$ 15,245	$ 26,956
Operating communities [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Inventory Write-down							300		$ 31,075
Fair Value, Nonrecurring [Member] | Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 [Member] | Operating communities [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Number of Operating Communities Tested (in ones)	80	65	71	69	64	49
Number of Communities Impaired (in ones)	1	0	7	3	6	5
Fair Value Of Communities Net Of Impairment Charges	$ 2,754	$ 0	$ 18,910	$ 5,436	$ 36,159	$ 37,282	$ 2,754	$ 36,159	$ 18,910
Inventory Write-down	$ 300	$ 0	$ 6,695	$ 1,100	$ 17,495	$ 5,785
City Living [Member] | Fair Value, Nonrecurring [Member] | Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 [Member] | Operating communities [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Number of Communities Impaired (in ones)					1	1
Inventory Write-down					$ 2,000	$ 2,800
North [Member] | Fair Value, Nonrecurring [Member] | Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 [Member] | Operating communities [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Number of Communities Impaired (in ones)			4		4	3
Inventory Write-down			$ 5,100		$ 15,000	$ 1,500
South [Member] | Fair Value, Nonrecurring [Member] | Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 [Member] | Operating communities [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Number of Communities Impaired (in ones)			2		1	1
Inventory Write-down			$ 600		$ 500	$ 1,500
Pacific [Member] | Fair Value, Nonrecurring [Member] | Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 [Member] | Operating communities [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Number of Communities Impaired (in ones)			1
Inventory Write-down			$ 1,000