Segment Information (Segment Financial Information) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended			6 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	May 31, 2016	Feb. 29, 2016	May 31, 2015	May 31, 2016	May 31, 2015	Nov. 30, 2015
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Impairment of Real Estate	$ 9,930		$ 0	$ 11,276	$ 0	$ 8,000
Inventory, Homes under Construction	1,247,223			1,247,223		1,031,356
Inventory, Real Estate, Land and Land Development Costs	1,815,661			1,815,661		1,766,045
Inventory, Land Held for Development and Sale	462,205			462,205		516,346
Inventory, Operative Builders	3,525,089			3,525,089		3,313,747
Revenues:
Total revenues	811,050		622,969	1,489,421	1,203,090
Pretax income (loss):
Total pretax income (loss)	24,797		12,673	40,824	23,172
Assets:
Total assets	4,915,843			4,915,843		5,015,371
Homebuilding [Member]
Revenues:
Total revenues	808,462		620,804	1,484,204	1,198,692
Pretax income (loss):
Total pretax income (loss)	23,277		9,485	38,121	18,301
Assets:
Total assets	4,902,920			4,902,920		5,001,343
Financial services [Member]
Revenues:
Total revenues	2,588		2,165	5,217	4,398
Pretax income (loss):
Total pretax income (loss)	1,520		3,188	2,703	4,871
Assets:
Total assets	12,923			12,923		14,028
West Coast [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Impairment of Real Estate			0		0
Inventory, Homes under Construction	705,598			705,598		535,795
Inventory, Real Estate, Land and Land Development Costs	807,694			807,694		788,607
Inventory, Land Held for Development and Sale	256,816			256,816		277,954
West Coast [Member] | Homebuilding [Member]
Revenues:
Total revenues	331,273		277,288	615,119	554,543
Pretax income (loss):
Total pretax income (loss)	19,619		18,554	41,735	40,408
Assets:
Total assets	1,881,235			1,881,235		1,740,299
West Coast [Member] | Land [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Impairment of Real Estate	4,574			4,574
Southwest [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Impairment of Real Estate	0		0	0	0
Inventory, Homes under Construction	114,147			114,147		112,032
Inventory, Real Estate, Land and Land Development Costs	329,661			329,661		317,331
Inventory, Land Held for Development and Sale	90,540			90,540		104,677
Southwest [Member] | Homebuilding [Member]
Revenues:
Total revenues	111,671		80,181	212,003	145,318
Pretax income (loss):
Total pretax income (loss)	10,134		5,245	22,637	8,688
Assets:
Total assets	575,881			575,881		582,030
Central [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Impairment of Real Estate	0		0	787	0
Inventory, Homes under Construction	295,563			295,563		263,345
Inventory, Real Estate, Land and Land Development Costs	458,954			458,954		421,783
Inventory, Land Held for Development and Sale	17,949			17,949		22,082
Central [Member] | Homebuilding [Member]
Revenues:
Total revenues	240,232		176,348	442,393	335,496
Pretax income (loss):
Total pretax income (loss)	23,335		13,125	33,914	23,351
Assets:
Total assets	886,688			886,688		829,811
Southeast [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Impairment of Real Estate			0	5,915	0
Inventory, Homes under Construction	131,915			131,915		120,184
Inventory, Real Estate, Land and Land Development Costs	219,352			219,352		238,324
Inventory, Land Held for Development and Sale	96,900			96,900		111,633
Southeast [Member] | Homebuilding [Member]
Revenues:
Total revenues	125,286		86,987	214,689	163,335
Pretax income (loss):
Total pretax income (loss)	(6,590)		(6,601)	(14,154)	(16,214)
Assets:
Total assets	484,325			484,325		507,844
Southeast [Member] | Land [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Impairment of Real Estate		$ 559
Corporate and Other [Member] | Homebuilding [Member]
Pretax income (loss):
Total pretax income (loss)	(23,221)		(20,838)	(46,011)	(37,932)
Assets:
Total assets	1,074,791			1,074,791		$ 1,341,359
Land Option Contract Abandonment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Loss on Contract Termination	1,810		536	2,430	984
Land Option Contract Abandonment [Member] | West Coast [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Loss on Contract Termination	261		0	421	0
Land Option Contract Abandonment [Member] | Southwest [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Loss on Contract Termination	111		0	111	0
Land Option Contract Abandonment [Member] | Central [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Loss on Contract Termination	$ 0		0	460	0
Land Option Contract Abandonment [Member] | Southeast [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Loss on Contract Termination			$ 536	1,438	$ 984
Metro Washington, D.C. [Member] | Southeast [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Percent of Homebuilding Revenues	2.00%
Metro Washington, D.C. [Member] | Southeast [Member] | Land [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Impairment of Real Estate				5,400
Metro Washington, D.C. [Member] | Land Option Contract Abandonment [Member] | Southeast [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Loss on Contract Termination	$ 1,438			$ 1,400
Land [Member] | Metro Washington, D.C. [Member] | Southeast [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Impairment of Real Estate	$ 5,356