Inventory - Recoverability Schedule of Inventory assets Held for Development, by Reportable Segment (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014 Community		Sep. 30, 2013 Community	Sep. 30, 2012 Community
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	8		5	31
Number of Communities	4		5	19
Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	$ 35,228		$ 27,680	$ 72,959
Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	97.80%		114.90%	96.70%
West
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	5		1	14
Number of Communities	3		1	8
Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	25,191		11,080	28,467
Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	90.90%		117.60%	94.70%
East
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	1	[1]	3	12
Number of Communities	0	[1]	3	8
Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	0	[1]	9,588	30,052
Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	0.00%	[1]	107.00%	91.80%
Southeast
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	2		1	5
Number of Communities	1		1	3
Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	7,479		5,257	9,247
Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	120.20%		128.60%	116.50%
Unallocated
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	0		0	0
Number of Communities	0		0	0
Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	$ 2,558		$ 1,755	$ 5,193
Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	100.00%		100.00%	100.00%

[1] During the year ended September 30, 2014, we recorded an impairment charge of $0.1 million in our East segment. The community had less than 10 lots remaining to close at the time of the analysis and therefore, consistent with our policy, we did not prepare an undiscounted or discounted cash flow analysis related to this community.