Inventories (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended
	Feb. 29, 2012	Feb. 28, 2011	Nov. 30, 2011
Inventories
Homes under construction	$ 402,077,000		$ 417,304,000
Land under development	608,695,000		587,582,000
Land held for future development	737,605,000		726,743,000
Total	1,748,377,000		1,731,629,000
Interest costs
Capitalized interest at beginning of period	233,461,000	249,966,000
Interest incurred (a)	30,411,000	25,937,000
Interest expensed (a)	(16,286,000)	(11,439,000)
Interest amortized to construction and land costs	(12,669,000)	(11,424,000)
Capitalized interest at end of period (b)	234,917,000	253,040,000
Inventories (Textual)
Loss on early extinguishment of debt	2,000,000
Gain on early extinguishment of secured debt		$ 3,600,000