Inventory Impairments and Land Option Contract Abandonments (Details)		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
		Nov. 30, 2014 USD ($) community	Nov. 30, 2015 USD ($) lot community delivery property	Nov. 30, 2014 USD ($) lot community delivery property	Nov. 30, 2013 USD ($) lot delivery property
Fair Value Inputs, Assets, Quantitative Information [Line Items]
Impairment of Real Estate		$ (34,200,000)	$ (8,030,000)	$ (37,628,000)	$ (391,000)
Acquisition Costs Related To Land Option Contracts And Other Similar Contracts		48,000,000	65,600,000	48,000,000
Carrying Value of Communities of Land Parcels Evaluated for Impairment		266,900,000	$ 286,300,000	$ 266,900,000	$ 146,000,000
Number of land parcels or communities associated with non cash inventory impairment charges | property			4	8	1
Number of land parcels or communities evaluated for recoverability | property			35	32	31
Aggregate carrying value of inventory impacted by pretax, noncash inventory impairment charges		$ 266,600,000	$ 254,200,000	$ 266,600,000
Number of communities and various other land parcels impacted by pretax, noncash inventory impairment charges | community		33	28	33
Number of Lots on which abandonment charges are recognized | lot			1,166	1,306	295
Remaining useful life in addition to specified useful lives			1 year
Land Option Contract Abandonment Lots Associated with Projects Less Than $100,000 | lot			78	7,292	9,406
Specified period of remaining useful lives			10 years
Expected realization period of inventory maximum			5 years
Land [Member]
Fair Value Inputs, Assets, Quantitative Information [Line Items]
Impairment of Real Estate			$ 0	$ (26,600,000)
Number of land parcels or communities associated with non cash inventory impairment charges | property				2
Communities [Member]
Fair Value Inputs, Assets, Quantitative Information [Line Items]
Impairment of Real Estate				$ (11,000,000)
Number of land parcels or communities associated with non cash inventory impairment charges | property				6
Minimum
Fair Value Inputs, Assets, Quantitative Information [Line Items]
Fair Value Estimate Input at Average Selling Price	[1]		$ 178,100	$ 216,100	$ 339,700
Fair Value Estimate Input at Sales for Period | delivery	[1]		2	1	1
Fair Value Inputs, Discount Rate	[1]		17.00%	17.00%	17.00%
Maximum
Fair Value Inputs, Assets, Quantitative Information [Line Items]
Fair Value Estimate Input at Average Selling Price	[1]		$ 509,400	$ 316,800	$ 339,700
Fair Value Estimate Input at Sales for Period | delivery	[1]		4	4	1
Fair Value Inputs, Discount Rate	[1]		20.00%	19.00%	17.00%
Acquisition Costs Related To Land Option Contracts And Other Similar Contracts			$ 100,000
Estimate of Fair Value Measurement [Member]
Fair Value Inputs, Assets, Quantitative Information [Line Items]
Assets, Fair Value Disclosure		$ 30,600,000	12,000,000	$ 30,600,000	$ 1,100,000
Land Option Contract Abandonment [Member]
Fair Value Inputs, Assets, Quantitative Information [Line Items]
Loss on Contract Termination			$ 1,561,000	$ 1,803,000	$ 3,190,000

[1] The ranges of inputs used in each period primarily reflect differences between the housing markets where each of the impacted communities or land parcels are located, rather than fluctuations in prevailing market conditions.