Investments in Unconsolidated Entities - Income (Loss), Impairments From, and Equity In Investments In Unconsolidated Entities (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010	Sep. 30, 2012 Discontinued Operations	Sep. 30, 2011 Discontinued Operations	Sep. 30, 2010 Discontinued Operations	Sep. 30, 2012 South Edge	Sep. 30, 2012 Inspirada	Sep. 30, 2012 the REIT	May 03, 2012 the REIT homes
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Income from unconsolidated entity activity	$ 304,000	$ 652,000	$ 10,000
Impairment of unconsolidated entity investment	0	(92,000)	(8,817,000)
Equity in income (loss) of unconsolidated entities - continuing operations	304,000	560,000	(8,807,000)
Reported in loss from discontinued operations, net of tax:
Loss from unconsolidated entity activity				(1,000)	(16,000)	(32,000)
Impairment of unconsolidated entity investment				(36,000)	(502,000)	(15,511,000)
Equity in loss of unconsolidated entities - discontinued operations				(37,000)	(518,000)	(15,543,000)
Settlement of unconsolidated entity debt obligation	15,862,000	0	0				15,900,000
(Decrease) increase in future land purchase rights	(11,651,000)	11,651,000	0					11,700,000
Cash and Pre-Owned Homes business contributed										300,000
Number of pre-owned homes										190
Number of pre-owned homes that were leased										187
Beazer homes' ownership interest	100.00%								18.09%	23.50%
Beazer's estimate of its maximum exposure to our repayment guarantees	$ 696,000	$ 17,916,000