Inventory Impairments and Land Option Contract Abandonments (Narratives) (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended
	Feb. 28, 2013 property	Feb. 29, 2012 property	Nov. 30, 2012 property
Inventory Impairments and Land Option Contract Abandonments [Abstract]
Number of land parcels or communities evaluated for recoverability	20	37
Pretax, noncash inventory impairment charges	$ 0	$ 6,572,000
Number of land parcels or communities associated with non cash inventory impairment charges		2
Post impairment fair value		12,200,000
Aggregate carrying value of inventory impacted by pretax, noncash inventory impairment charges	312,700,000		307,200,000
Number of communities and various other land parcels impacted by pretax, noncash inventory impairment charges	44		46
Land option contract abandonment charges	$ 0	$ 0
Remaining useful life in addition to specified useful lives (in years)	1 year
Specified period of remaining useful lives (in years)	10 years
Expected Realization Period of Inventory (in years)	5 years