XML 70 R21.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT
v2.4.0.6

Real Estate and Capitalized Interest (Tables) | 9 Months Ended
--- | ---
Sep. 30, 2012
Inventory Disclosure [Abstract] |
Real estate properties |
| At September 30, 2012 |  | At December 31, 2011
Homes under contract under construction (1) | $ | 205,616 |  |  | $ | 101,445 |
Unsold homes, completed and under construction (1) | 98,354 |  |  | 97,246 |
Model homes (1) | 55,853 |  |  | 49,892 |
Finished home sites and home sites under development | 524,842 |  |  | 441,242 |
Land held for development (2) | 54,981 |  |  | 55,143 |
Land held for sale | 24,619 |  |  | 29,908 |
Communities in mothball status (3) | 40,560 |  |  | 40,549 |
| $ | 1,004,825 |  |  | $ | 815,425 |
(1) | Includes the allocated land and land development costs associated with each lot for these homes.
(2) | Land held for development primarily reflects land and land development costs related to land where development activity is not currently underway but is expected to begin in the future. In these cases, we may have chosen not to currently develop certain land holdings as they typically represent a portion of a large land parcel that we plan to build out over several years.
(3) | Represents communities where we have decided to cease operations (mothball) as we have determined that their economic performance would be maximized by deferring development. In the future, some of these communities may be re-opened while others may be sold to third parties. If we deem our carrying value to not be fully recoverable, we adjust our carrying value for these assets to fair value at the time they are placed into mothball status. As of September 30, 2012, we had three mothballed communities with a carrying value of $11.2 million in our West Region and eight mothballed communities with a carrying value of $29.4 million in our Central Region. During the nine months ended September 30, 2012, we did not place any additional communities into mothball status. We do not capitalize interest for such mothballed assets, and all ongoing costs of land ownership (i.e. property taxes, homeowner association dues, etc.) are also expensed as incurred.
Real-estate and joint venture impairment charges |
| Three Months Ended |  | Nine Months Ended
| September 30, |  | September 30,
| 2012 |  | 2011 |  | 2012 |  | 2011
Terminated option/purchase contracts and related pre-acquisition costs: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
West | $ | — |  |  | $ | — |  |  | $ | — |  |  | $ | — |
Central | 263 |  |  | 98 |  |  | 346 |  |  | 100 |
East | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |
Total | $ | 263 |  |  | $ | 98 |  |  | $ | 346 |  |  | $ | 100 |
Real estate inventory impairments (1): |  |  |  |  |  |  |
West | $ | 42 |  |  | $ | 295 |  |  | $ | 284 |  |  | $ | 552 |
Central | 54 |  |  | 468 |  |  | 197 |  |  | 1,235 |
East | 58 |  |  | 59 |  |  | 77 |  |  | 287 |
Total | $ | 154 |  |  | $ | 822 |  |  | $ | 558 |  |  | $ | 2,074 |
Impairments of land held for sale: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
West | $ | — |  |  | $ | — |  |  | $ | 669 |  |  | $ | — |
Central | — |  |  | 127 |  |  | — |  |  | 127 |
East | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |
Total | $ | — |  |  | $ | 127 |  |  | $ | 669 |  |  | $ | 127 |
Total impairments: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
West | $ | 42 |  |  | $ | 295 |  |  | $ | 953 |  |  | $ | 552 |
Central | 317 |  |  | 693 |  |  | 543 |  |  | 1,462 |
East | 58 |  |  | 59 |  |  | 77 |  |  | 287 |
Total | $ | 417 |  |  | $ | 1,047 |  |  | $ | 1,573 |  |  | $ | 2,301 |
(1) | Included in the real estate inventory impairments are impairments of individual homes in a community where the underlying community was not also impaired, as follows (in thousands):
| Three Months Ended |  | Nine Months Ended
| September 30, |  | September 30,
| 2012 |  | 2011 |  | 2012 |  | 2011
Individual home impairments: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
West | $ | 42 |  |  | $ | 166 |  |  | $ | 284 |  |  | $ | 423 |
Central | 54 |  |  | 239 |  |  | 197 |  |  | 695 |
East | 58 |  |  | 59 |  |  | 77 |  |  | 287 |
Total | $ | 154 |  |  | $ | 464 |  |  | $ | 558 |  |  | $ | 1,405 |
Number of communities with real estate inventory impairments & fair value of these communities |
| Three Months Ended September 30, 2011
| Number of Communities Impaired |  | Impairment Charges |  | Fair Value of Communities Impaired (Carrying Value less Impairments)
West | 1 |  |  | $ | 129 |  |  | 2,501 |
Central | 4 |  |  | 229 |  |  | 6,894 |
East | — |  |  | — |  |  | N/A |
Total | 5 |  |  | $ | 358 |  |  | $ | 9,395 |
| Nine Months Ended September 30, 2011
| Number of Communities Impaired |  | Impairment Charges |  | Fair Value of Communities Impaired (Carrying Value less Impairments)
West | 1 |  |  | $ | 129 |  |  | 2,501 |
Central | 6 |  |  | 540 |  |  | 13,721 |
East | — |  |  | — |  |  | N/A |
Total | 7 |  |  | $ | 669 |  |  | $ | 16,222 |
Summary of capitalized interest |
| Three Months Ended |  | Nine Months Ended
| September 30, |  | September 30,
| 2012 |  | 2011 |  | 2012 |  | 2011
Capitalized interest, beginning of period | $ | 17,836 |  |  | $ | 13,205 |  |  | $ | 14,810 |  |  | $ | 11,679 |
Interest incurred | 11,654 |  |  | 10,848 |  |  | 33,819 |  |  | 32,545 |
Interest expensed | (5,009 | ) |  | (7,517 | ) |  | (18,718 | ) |  | (23,036 | )
Interest amortized to cost of home, land closings and impairments | (4,296 | ) |  | (2,421 | ) |  | (9,726 | ) |  | (7,073 | )
Capitalized interest, end of period (1) | $ | 20,185 |  |  | $ | 14,115 |  |  | $ | 20,185 |  |  | $ | 14,115 |
(1) | Approximately $750,000 of the capitalized interest is related to our joint venture investments and is a component of “Investments in unconsolidated entities” on our consolidated balance sheets as of September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011.

X
- Definition The tabular disclosure for the details of the charge against earnings resulting from the aggregate write down of all assets from their carrying value to their fair value. + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | mth_AssetImpairmentChargesTableTextBlock
Namespace Prefix: | mth_
Data Type: | nonnum:textBlockItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

X
- Definition Tabular disclosure for community level impairment of long-lived assets held and used by an entity which includes a the number of communities, dollar amount of impairment and the associated fair market value of those impaired communities. + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | mth_NumberOfCommunitiesImpairedFairValueAndImpairmentChargesTableTextBlock
Namespace Prefix: | mth_
Data Type: | nonnum:textBlockItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

X
- Definition The tabular disclosure for the carrying amount as of the balance sheet date of interest costs that were capitalized to properties under development during the land development and construction period of a project, and which are included in inventory, the amortization of such capitalized interest and the interest expenses associated with non-qualified assets. + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | mth_RealEstateInventoryCapitalizedInterestCostsTableTextBlock
Namespace Prefix: | mth_
Data Type: | nonnum:textBlockItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

X
- Definition [Table Text Block] for ScheduleOfInventoryRealEstate [Table] + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | mth_ScheduleOfInventoryRealEstateTableTextBlock
Namespace Prefix: | mth_
Data Type: | nonnum:textBlockItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

X
- Details
Name: | us-gaap_InventoryDisclosureAbstract
Namespace Prefix: | us-gaap_
Data Type: | xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration