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Inventory
6 Months Ended
Apr. 30, 2012
Inventory Disclosure [Abstract]  
Inventory
Inventory
Inventory at April 30, 2012 and October 31, 2011 consisted of the following (amounts in thousands):
 
April 30,
2012
 
October 31,
2011
Land controlled for future communities
$
41,442

 
$
46,581

Land owned for future communities
1,046,240

 
979,145

Operating communities
2,680,195

 
2,390,997

 
$
3,767,877

 
$
3,416,723


Operating communities include communities offering homes for sale, communities that have sold all available home sites but have not completed delivery of the homes, communities that were previously offering homes for sale but are temporarily closed due to business conditions or non-availability of improved home sites and that are expected to reopen within twelve months of the end of the fiscal period being reported on, and communities preparing to open for sale. The carrying value attributable to operating communities includes the cost of homes under construction, land and land development costs, the carrying cost of home sites in current and future phases of these communities and the carrying cost of model homes, less impairment charges recognized against the communities.
Communities that were previously offering homes for sale but are temporarily closed due to business conditions that do not have any remaining backlog and are not expected to reopen within twelve months of the end of the fiscal period being reported on have been classified as land owned for future communities.
Information regarding the classification, number and carrying value of these temporarily closed communities, as of the date indicated, is provided in the table below.
 
April 30,
2012
 
October 31,
2011
Land owned for future communities:
 
 
 
Number of communities
33

 
43

Carrying value (in thousands)
$
194,678

 
$
256,468

Operating communities:
 
 
 
Number of communities
13

 
2

Carrying value (in thousands)
$
67,222

 
$
11,076



During the three-month period ended January 31, 2011, the Company reclassified $20.0 million of inventory related to commercial retail space located in one of its high-rise projects to property, construction and office equipment. The $20.0 million was reclassified due to the completion of construction of the facilities and the substantial completion of the high-rise project of which the facilities are a part.
The Company provided for inventory impairment charges and the expensing of costs that it believed not to be recoverable, for the periods indicated; these are shown in the table below (amounts in thousands).
 
Six months ended April 30,
 
Three months ended April 30,
 
2012
 
2011
 
2012
 
2011
Charge (recovery):
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Land controlled for future communities
$
225

 
$
1,848

 
$
(552
)
 
$
2,197

Land owned for future communities
918

 

 

 

Operating communities
8,985

 
16,200

 
2,560

 
10,725

 
$
10,128

 
$
18,048

 
$
2,008

 
$
12,922


The table below provides, for the periods indicated, the number of operating communities that the Company tested for potential impairment, the number of operating communities in which it recognized impairment charges, the amount of impairment charges recognized, and, as of the end of the period indicated, the fair value of those communities, net of impairment charges ($ amounts in thousands).
 
 
 
Impaired operating communities
Three months ended:
Number of
communities tested
 
Number of
communities
 
Fair value of
communities,
net of
impairment charges
 
Impairment charges
Fiscal 2012:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
January 31
113
 
8
 
$
49,758

 
$
6,425

April 30
115
 
2
 
$
22,962

 
2,560

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
$
8,985

Fiscal 2011:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
January 31
143
 
6
 
$
56,105

 
$
5,475

April 30
142
 
9
 
$
40,765

 
10,725

July 31
129
 
2
 
$
867

 
175

October 31
114
 
3
 
$
3,367

 
710

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
$
17,085


At April 30, 2012, the Company evaluated its land purchase contracts to determine if any of the selling entities were VIEs and, if they were, whether the Company was the primary beneficiary of any of them. Under these land purchase contracts, the Company does not possess legal title to the land and its risk is generally limited to deposits paid to the sellers and the creditors of the sellers generally have no recourse against the Company. At April 30, 2012, the Company determined that 56 land purchase contracts, with an aggregate purchase price of $484.4 million, on which it had made aggregate deposits totaling $24.2 million, were VIEs, but that it was not the primary beneficiary of any VIE related to its land purchase contracts.

Interest incurred, capitalized and expensed, for the periods indicated, was as follows (amounts in thousands): 
 
Six months ended April 30,
 
Three months ended April 30,
 
2012
 
2011
 
2012
 
2011
Interest capitalized, beginning of period
$
298,757

 
$
267,278

 
$
311,335

 
$
274,730

Interest incurred
60,467

 
58,434

 
31,568

 
28,718

Interest expensed to cost of revenues
(33,989
)
 
(35,382
)
 
(17,668
)
 
(17,300
)
Interest directly expensed to operations

 
(1,504
)
 

 
(392
)
Write-off against other income
(1,582
)
 
(318
)
 
(1,582
)
 
(248
)
Interest reclassified to property, construction and office equipment

 
(3,000
)
 

 

Interest capitalized on investments in unconsolidated entities
(1,137
)
 

 
(1,137
)
 

Interest capitalized, end of period
$
322,516

 
$
285,508

 
$
322,516

 
$
285,508


Inventory impairment charges are recognized against all inventory costs of a community, such as land, land improvements, cost of home construction and capitalized interest. The amounts included in the table directly above reflect the gross amount of capitalized interest without allocation of any impairment charges recognized. The Company estimates that, had inventory impairment charges been allocated on a pro-rata basis to the individual components of inventory, capitalized interest at April 30, 2012 and 2011 would have been reduced by approximately $52.8 million and $54.5 million, respectively.