Segment Information (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended											12 Months Ended
	Mar. 12, 2013	Nov. 30, 2013	Aug. 31, 2013	May 31, 2013	Feb. 28, 2013	Nov. 30, 2012	Aug. 31, 2012	May 31, 2012	Feb. 29, 2012	Nov. 30, 2013 segment	Nov. 30, 2012	Nov. 30, 2011	Nov. 30, 2013 Homebuilding [Member] segment	Nov. 30, 2012 Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2011 Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2013 Financial services [Member] segment	Nov. 30, 2012 Financial services [Member]	Nov. 30, 2011 Financial services [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 KBA Mortgage	Nov. 30, 2013 Home Community Mortgage LLC [Member] Rate	Nov. 30, 2013 Corporate and Other [Member] Homebuilding [Member]		Nov. 30, 2012 Corporate and Other [Member] Homebuilding [Member]		Nov. 30, 2011 Corporate and Other [Member] Homebuilding [Member]		Nov. 30, 2013 Central [Member]	Nov. 30, 2012 Central [Member]	Nov. 30, 2011 Central [Member]	Nov. 30, 2013 Central [Member] Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2012 Central [Member] Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2011 Central [Member] Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2013 West Coast [Member]	Nov. 30, 2012 West Coast [Member]	Nov. 30, 2011 West Coast [Member]	Nov. 30, 2013 West Coast [Member] Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2012 West Coast [Member] Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2011 West Coast [Member] Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2013 Southeast [Member]	Nov. 30, 2012 Southeast [Member]	Nov. 30, 2011 Southeast [Member]	Nov. 30, 2013 Southeast [Member] Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2012 Southeast [Member] Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2011 Southeast [Member] Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2013 Southwest [Member]	Nov. 30, 2012 Southwest [Member]	Nov. 30, 2011 Southwest [Member]	Nov. 30, 2013 Southwest [Member] Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2012 Southwest [Member] Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2011 Southwest [Member] Homebuilding [Member]	Nov. 30, 2013 Nationstar Mortgage LLC [Member] Home Community Mortgage LLC [Member] Rate
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of Reportable Segments										5			4			1
Ownership interest in joint venture																			50.00%	49.90%																															50.10%
Revenues:
Revenues		$ 618,531,000	$ 548,974,000	$ 524,406,000	$ 405,219,000	$ 578,201,000	$ 424,504,000	$ 302,852,000	$ 254,558,000	$ 2,097,130,000	$ 1,560,115,000	$ 1,315,866,000	$ 2,084,978,000	$ 1,548,432,000	$ 1,305,562,000	$ 12,152,000	$ 11,683,000	$ 10,304,000												$ 565,120,000	$ 436,407,000	$ 369,705,000				$ 1,020,218,000	$ 755,259,000	$ 589,387,000				$ 324,388,000	$ 224,328,000	$ 206,598,000				$ 175,252,000	$ 132,438,000	$ 139,872,000
Pretax income (loss):
Pretax income (loss)		28,316,000	26,578,000	(4,173,000)	(12,358,000)	2,424,000	(7,439,000)	(28,636,000)	(45,402,000)	38,363,000	(79,053,000)	(181,168,000)	28,179,000	(89,936,000)	(207,246,000)	10,184,000	10,883,000	26,078,000			(69,271,000)	[1]	(69,541,000)	[1]	(67,713,000)	[1]				22,275,000	1,449,000	(12,924,000)				118,264,000	(10,467,000)	19,639,000				(45,992,000)	(1,183,000)	(37,983,000)				2,903,000	(10,194,000)	(108,265,000)
Equity in income (loss) of unconsolidated joint ventures:
Equity in income (loss) of unconsolidated joint ventures										(933,000)	1,797,000	(36,553,000)	(2,007,000)	(394,000)	(55,839,000)	1,074,000	2,191,000	19,286,000												0	0	0				(148,000)	(174,000)	68,000				496,000	591,000	(5,000)				(2,355,000)	(811,000)	(55,902,000)
Inventory impairments:
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets Held-for-use		400,000				5,200,000	6,400,000	9,900,000	6,600,000	391,000	28,107,000	22,730,000															0	1,267,000	51,000				0	19,235,000	2,598,000				391,000	5,470,000	1,366,000				0	2,135,000	18,715,000
Land option contract abandonments:
Total land option contract abandonment charges	0	2,900,000	0	300,000		400,000				3,190,000	426,000	3,061,000															0	133,000	1,310,000				3,190,000	0	704,000				0	293,000	751,000				0	0	296,000
Joint venture impairments:
Total joint venture impairments										0	0	53,727,000															0	0	0				0	0	0				0	0	0				0	0	53,727,000
Assets:
Total assets		3,193,635,000				2,561,698,000				3,193,635,000	2,561,698,000		3,183,595,000	2,557,243,000		10,040,000	4,455,000				627,879,000		596,176,000							465,547,000	369,294,000					1,230,761,000	930,450,000					456,965,000	341,460,000					402,443,000	319,863,000
Investments in unconsolidated joint ventures:
Investments in unconsolidated joint ventures		130,192,000				123,674,000				130,192,000	123,674,000					5,490,000	1,630,000										0	0					40,246,000	38,372,000					9,069,000	9,382,000					80,877,000	75,920,000
Initial Capital Contribution to Joint Venture																				$ 5,000,000

[1] (a) Corporate and other includes corporate general and administrative expenses.