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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)
In Thousands, unless otherwise specified
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2013
Dec. 31, 2012
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]      
Cash related to a consolidated variable interest entity $ 481nvr_CashRelatedToConsolidatedJointVenture $ 668nvr_CashRelatedToConsolidatedJointVenture  
Pre-tax recovery related to impairment of contract land deposits 225nvr_ContractLandDepositAssetRecovery 5,300nvr_ContractLandDepositAssetRecovery 2,000nvr_ContractLandDepositAssetRecovery
Contract land deposit asset impairment valuation allowance 56,100nvr_ValuationAllowanceOfContractLandDepositsAssets 59,800nvr_ValuationAllowanceOfContractLandDepositsAssets  
Uncertain tax position threshold for tax benefit 50.00%nvr_TaxBenefitFromUncertainTax    
Model Home Furniture and Fixtures [Member]      
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]      
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life 2 years    
Office Facilities and Other [Member] | Minimum [Member]      
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]      
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life 3 years    
Office Facilities and Other [Member] | Maximum [Member]      
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]      
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life 10 years    
Manufacturing Facilities [Member] | Minimum [Member]      
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]      
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life 5 years    
Manufacturing Facilities [Member] | Maximum [Member]      
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]      
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life 40 years    
Homebuilding [Member]      
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]      
Restricted cash 24,106us-gaap_RestrictedCashAndCashEquivalents
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= us-gaap_ResidentialRealEstateMember
20,563us-gaap_RestrictedCashAndCashEquivalents
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= us-gaap_ResidentialRealEstateMember
 
Impairment of goodwill 0us-gaap_GoodwillImpairmentLoss
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= us-gaap_ResidentialRealEstateMember
   
Homebuilding [Member] | Heartland Homes Inc [Member]      
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]      
Goodwill acquired from business acquisition 441us-gaap_Goodwill
/ us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis
= nvr_HeartlandHomesIncMember
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= us-gaap_ResidentialRealEstateMember
   
Finite-lived intangibles acquired from business acquisition, net of accumulated amortization 4,923us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsNet
/ us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis
= nvr_HeartlandHomesIncMember
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= us-gaap_ResidentialRealEstateMember
6,306us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsNet
/ us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis
= nvr_HeartlandHomesIncMember
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= us-gaap_ResidentialRealEstateMember
 
Weighted average life of finite-lived intangible assets 4 years    
Mortgage Banking [Member]      
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]      
Restricted cash 1,947us-gaap_RestrictedCashAndCashEquivalents
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= us-gaap_ResidentialMortgageMember
2,860us-gaap_RestrictedCashAndCashEquivalents
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= us-gaap_ResidentialMortgageMember
 
Mortgage Banking [Member] | Level 2 [Member] | Fair Value, Measurements, Recurring [Member]      
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]      
Typical length of days loans sold into secondary market 30 days    
Mortgage Banking [Member] | Level 2 [Member] | Fair Value, Measurements, Recurring [Member] | Rate Lock Commitments [Member]      
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]      
Notional or Principal Amount 237,989invest_DerivativeNotionalAmount
/ us-gaap_FairValueByFairValueHierarchyLevelAxis
= us-gaap_FairValueInputsLevel2Member
/ us-gaap_FairValueByMeasurementFrequencyAxis
= us-gaap_FairValueMeasurementsRecurringMember
/ us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis
= us-gaap_InterestRateLockCommitmentsMember
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= us-gaap_ResidentialMortgageMember
   
Mortgage Banking [Member] | Level 2 [Member] | Fair Value, Measurements, Recurring [Member] | Forward Sales Contracts [Member]      
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]      
Notional or Principal Amount $ 424,966invest_DerivativeNotionalAmount
/ us-gaap_DerivativeByNatureAxis
= us-gaap_ForwardContractsMember
/ us-gaap_FairValueByFairValueHierarchyLevelAxis
= us-gaap_FairValueInputsLevel2Member
/ us-gaap_FairValueByMeasurementFrequencyAxis
= us-gaap_FairValueMeasurementsRecurringMember
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= us-gaap_ResidentialMortgageMember