Real Estate and Tangible Water Assets (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2016
Real Estate and Tangible Water Assets [Line Items]
Real estate and improvements	$ 9,694	$ 9,525
Residential real estate and home construction inventories	362,056	372,612
Other real estate inventories completed or under development	9,971	9,971
Water and Water Rights	42,514	42,511
Total real estate and tangible water assets	424,235	434,619
Accumulated depreciation	11,778	$ 11,948
Loss on real estate	274
CALIFORNIA
Real Estate and Tangible Water Assets [Line Items]
Loss on real estate	274
Real estate	3,400
UCP
Real Estate and Tangible Water Assets [Line Items]
Loss on real estate	923
Real estate	$ 6,000

Improvements to Real Estate, Accumulated Amortization

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- Definition

Inventory, Real Estate, Residential

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Real estate and water assets include the cost of water rights, water in storage, real estate, including raw land and real estate being developed and any real estate improvements. Costs to develop real estate and water assets are capitalized. Water rights consist of water acquired or developed independently or in conjunction with the acquisition of real estate. Water in storage includes the direct construction costs to build a water storage site.

+ References

No definition available.

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[Line Items] for Real Estate and Tangible Water Assets [Table]

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- Definition

Water and Water Rights

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

The charge against earnings in the period to reduce the carrying amount of real property to fair value.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 360
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6391110&loc=d3e2921-110230

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=31042434&loc=d3e3602-108585

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- Definition

Total of (1) improvements, (2) held-for-sale, (3) land and land under development, (4) construction-in-process, (5) mortgage loans held-in-inventory, and (6) other real estate investments which are considered inventory due to being held for sale or disposition.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount of investment in certain other real estate investments not specifically identified elsewhere in the existing taxonomy.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount of real estate investment property which may include the following: (1) land available-for-sale; (2) land available-for-development; (3) investments in building and building improvements; (4) tenant allowances; (5) developments in-process; (6) rental properties; and (7) other real estate investments.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.7-03.1(d))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879938&loc=d3e572229-122910

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