Leases

12 Months Ended

Nov. 30, 2022

We lease certain property and equipment for use in our operations. We recognize lease expense for these leases generally on a straight-line basis over the lease term and combine lease and non-lease components for all leases. Lease right-of-use assets and lease liabilities are recorded in our consolidated balance sheets for leases with an expected term at the commencement date of more than 12 months. Some of our leases include one or more renewal options, the exercise of which is generally at our discretion. Such options are excluded from the expected term of the lease unless we determine it is reasonably certain the option will be exercised. Lease liabilities are equal to the present value of the remaining lease payments while the amount of lease right-of-use assets is based on the lease liabilities, subject to adjustment, such as for lease incentives. Our leases do not provide a readily determinable implicit interest rate; therefore, we estimate our incremental borrowing rate to calculate the present value of remaining lease payments. In determining our incremental borrowing rate, we considered the lease term, market interest rates, current interest rates on our senior notes and the effects of collateralization. Our lease population at November 30, 2022 was comprised of operating leases where we are the lessee, primarily real estate leases for our corporate offices, division offices and design studios, as well as certain equipment leases. Our lease agreements do not contain any residual value guarantees or material restrictive covenants.

Lease expense is included in selling, general and administrative expenses in our consolidated statements of operations and includes costs for leases with terms of more than 12 months as well as short-term leases with terms of 12 months or less. For the years ended November 30, 2022, 2021 and 2020, our total lease expense was $20.7 million, $17.3 million and $17.7 million, respectively, and included short-term lease costs of $7.7 million, $4.7 million and $6.0 million, respectively. Variable lease costs and external sublease income for the years ended November 30, 2022, 2021 and 2020 were immaterial.

The following table presents our lease right-of-use assets, lease liabilities and the weighted-average remaining lease term and weighted-average discount rate (incremental borrowing rate) used in calculating the lease liabilities (dollars in thousands):


	November 30,
	2022			2021
Lease right-of-use assets (a)	$	25,545		$	27,693
Lease liabilities (b)	27,580			29,481
Weighted-average remaining lease term	3.5 years			3.8 years
Weighted-average discount rate (incremental borrowing rate)	5.0		%	5.1		%

(a)Represents lease right-of-use assets within our homebuilding operations and financial services operations of $25.5 million and $.1 million, respectively, at November 30, 2022, and $27.5 million and $.2 million, respectively, at November 30, 2021.

(b)Represents lease liabilities within our homebuilding operations and financial services operations of $27.5 million and $.1 million, respectively, at November 30, 2022, and $29.3 million and $.2 million, respectively, at November 30, 2021.

The following table presents additional information about our leases (in thousands):


	Years Ended November 30,
	2022		2021
Lease right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for new lease liabilities	$	3,941	$	1,526
Cash payments on lease liabilities	11,169		11,613

As of November 30, 2022, the future minimum lease payments required under our leases are as follows (in thousands):


Years Ending November 30,
2023	$	10,589
2024	8,235
2025	6,159
2026	2,296
2027	1,761
Thereafter	1,122
Total lease payments	30,162
Less: Interest	(2,582)
Present value of lease liabilities	$	27,580