Information on Segments (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2016

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Revenue and income (loss) before income taxes and total assets [Table Text Block]

Total assets for each of our segments at October 31, 2016 and 2015, are shown in the table below (amounts in thousands):

	2016		2015
Traditional Home Building:
North	$	1,020,250	$	1,061,777
Mid-Atlantic	1,166,023		1,225,988
South	1,203,554		1,196,650
West	1,130,625		949,566
California	2,479,885		2,243,309
Traditional Home Building	7,000,337		6,677,290
City Living	946,738		873,013
Corporate and other	1,789,714		1,656,212
	$	9,736,789	$	9,206,515

“Corporate and other” is comprised principally of cash and cash equivalents, marketable securities, restricted cash and investments, deferred tax assets, investments in our Rental Property Joint Ventures, expected recoveries from insurance carriers and suppliers, our Gibraltar investments, manufacturing facilities, and mortgage and title subsidiaries.

The table below summarizes revenue and income (loss) before income taxes for our segments for each of the fiscal years ended October 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014 (amounts in thousands):

	Revenues						Income (loss) before income taxes
	2016		2015		2014		2016			2015			2014
Traditional Home Building:
North	$	814,519	$	702,175	$	662,734	$	77,017		$	59,172		$	56,983
Mid-Atlantic	895,736		845,328		817,306		(29,361		)	69,093			78,971
South	849,548		892,303		836,498		128,613			152,991			113,584
West	903,691		665,282		517,925		127,265			106,365			78,802
California	1,448,546		750,036		795,802		335,173			139,133			157,561
Traditional Home Building	4,912,040		3,855,124		3,630,265		638,707			526,754			485,901
City Living	257,468		316,124		281,337		91,109			124,290			104,580
Corporate and other							(140,789		)	(115,482		)	(85,899		)
	$	5,169,508	$	4,171,248	$	3,911,602	$	589,027		$	535,562		$	504,582

“Corporate and other” is comprised principally of general corporate expenses such as the offices of our executive officers; the corporate finance, accounting, audit, tax, human resources, risk management, information technology, marketing, and legal groups; interest income; income from certain of our ancillary businesses, including Gibraltar; and income from a number of our unconsolidated entities.

Schedule of inventory, by segment [Table Text Block]

Inventory for each of our segments, as of the dates indicated, is shown in the table below (amounts in thousands):

	Land controlled for future communities		Land owned for future communities		Operating communities		Total
Balances at October 31, 2016
Traditional Home Building:
North	$	20,671	$	79,299	$	883,195	$	983,165
Mid-Atlantic	30,967		109,551		982,482		1,123,000
South	6,024		96,900		927,400		1,030,324
West	7,724		191,995		906,334		1,106,053
California	5,337		989,689		1,293,509		2,288,535
Traditional Home Building	70,723		1,467,434		4,992,920		6,531,077
City Living	1,006		416,712		405,172		822,890
	$	71,729	$	1,884,146	$	5,398,092	$	7,353,967
Balances at October 31, 2015
Traditional Home Building:
North	$	12,858	$	146,063	$	865,553	$	1,024,474
Mid-Atlantic	33,196		194,058		956,749		1,184,003
South	4,861		205,562		806,513		1,016,936
West	8,417		198,689		726,256		933,362
California	14,386		899,675		1,149,112		2,063,173
Traditional Home Building	73,718		1,644,047		4,504,183		6,221,948
City Living	1,496		389,400		384,672		775,568
	$	75,214	$	2,033,447	$	4,888,855	$	6,997,516

Schedule of inventory impairments, by segment [Table Text Block]

The amounts we have provided for inventory impairment charges and the expensing of costs that we believed not to be recoverable for each of our segments, for the years ended October 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, are shown in the table below (amounts in thousands):

	2016		2015		2014
Traditional Home Building:
North	$	7,579	$	15,033	$	9,148
Mid-Atlantic	2,076		19,488		9,069
South	3,316		720		2,285
West	746		420		169
California					7
Traditional Home Building	13,717		35,661		20,678
City Living	90		48
	$	13,807	$	35,709	$	20,678

Schedule of investments in unconsolidated entities and equity in earnings (losses) from unconsolidated entities, by segment [Table Text Block]

The net carrying value of our investments in unconsolidated entities and our equity in earnings (losses) from such investments, for each of our segments, as of the dates indicated, are shown in the table below (amounts in thousands):

	Investments in unconsolidated entities				Equity in earnings (losses) from unconsolidated entities
	At October 31,				Year ended October 31,
	2016		2015		2016		2015			2014
Traditional Home Building:
Mid-Atlantic	$	12,639	$	12,167						$	(8	)
South	93,182		97,041		$	11,013	$	11,074		2,621
West					2,921		447			(166		)
California	130,534		128,338		5,896		5,089			302
Traditional Home Building	236,355		237,546		19,830		16,610			2,749
City Living	85,882		52,634		13,184		(1,158		)	(3,593		)
Corporate and other	174,174		122,680		7,734		5,667			41,985
	$	496,411	$	412,860	$	40,748	$	21,119		$	41,141

“Corporate and other” is comprised of our investments in the Rental Property Joint Ventures and the Gibraltar Joint Ventures.