Inventory - Results of Discounted Cash Flow Analysis (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012 Communities lots	Sep. 30, 2011 Communities lots	Sep. 30, 2010 lots Communities
Real Estate, Write-down or Reserve [Line Items]
Number of communities impaired	5	19	29
Number of lots impaired	246	1,223	1,895
Impairment Charges	$ 9,547	$ 29,581	$ 48,917
Estimated fair value of impaired inventory at period end	20,857	49,759	72,806
Continuing Operations
Real Estate, Write-down or Reserve [Line Items]
Number of communities impaired	5	19	25
Number of lots impaired	246	1,223	1,827
Impairment Charges	9,487	29,305	47,673
Estimated fair value of impaired inventory at period end	20,857	49,759	66,834
Continuing Operations | West
Real Estate, Write-down or Reserve [Line Items]
Number of communities impaired	2	12	14
Number of lots impaired	116	859	618
Impairment Charges	3,902	20,150	18,056
Estimated fair value of impaired inventory at period end	11,058	33,066	38,830
Continuing Operations | East
Real Estate, Write-down or Reserve [Line Items]
Number of communities impaired	2	4	6
Number of lots impaired	93	86	847
Impairment Charges	4,316	1,611	18,703
Estimated fair value of impaired inventory at period end	7,342	10,671	17,020
Continuing Operations | Southeast
Real Estate, Write-down or Reserve [Line Items]
Number of communities impaired	1	3	5
Number of lots impaired	37	278	362
Impairment Charges	796	5,182	7,510
Estimated fair value of impaired inventory at period end	2,457	6,022	10,984
Continuing Operations | Unallocated
Real Estate, Write-down or Reserve [Line Items]
Number of communities impaired	0	0	0
Number of lots impaired	0	0	0
Impairment Charges	473	2,362	3,404
Estimated fair value of impaired inventory at period end	0	0	0
Discontinued Operations
Real Estate, Write-down or Reserve [Line Items]
Number of communities impaired	0	0	4
Number of lots impaired	0	0	68
Impairment Charges	60	276	1,244
Estimated fair value of impaired inventory at period end	$ 0	$ 0	$ 5,972