Inventory - Recoverability Schedule of Inventory assets Held for Development, by Reportable Segment (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2013 Community	Sep. 30, 2012 Community	Sep. 30, 2011 Community
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	5	31	30
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Number of Communities	5	19	23
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	$ 27,680	$ 72,959	$ 96,008
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	114.90%	96.70%	87.70%
Unallocated
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	0	0	1
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Number of Communities	0	0	0
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	1,755	5,193	9,707
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Continuing Operations | West
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	1	14	18
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Number of Communities	1	8	15
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	11,080	28,467	58,848
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	117.60%	94.70%	88.40%
Continuing Operations | East
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	3	12	7
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Number of Communities	3	8	5
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	9,588	30,052	16,436
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	107.00%	91.80%	94.60%
Continuing Operations | Southeast
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	1	5	4
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Number of Communities	1	3	3
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	$ 5,257	$ 9,247	$ 11,017
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	128.60%	116.50%	60.30%