12.

Reduction of Inventory to Fair Value

We record impairment losses on inventories related to communities under development and held for future development when events and circumstances indicate that they

may

be impaired and the undiscounted cash flows estimated to be generated by those assets are less than their related carrying amounts. If the expected undiscounted cash flows are less than the carrying amount, then the community is written down to its fair value. We estimate the fair value of each impaired community by determining the present value of the estimated future cash flows at a discount rate commensurate with the risk of the respective community. For the years ended

October 31, 2019,

2018

and

2017,

our discount rates used for the impairments recorded ranged from

17.3%

18.3%,

16.8%

19.8%

and

18.3%

19.8%,

respectively. Should the estimates or expectations used in determining cash flows or fair value decrease or differ from current estimates in the future, we

may

need to recognize additional impairments.

During the years ended

October 31, 2019

and

2018,

we evaluated inventories of all

393

and

391

communities under development and held for future development or sale, respectively, for impairment indicators through preparation and review of detailed budgets or other market indicators of impairment. We performed undiscounted future cash flow analyses during the years ended

October 31, 2019

and

2018

for

nine

and

five

of those communities (i.e., those with a projected operating loss or other impairment indicators), respectively, with an aggregate carrying value of

$58.9

million and

$11.2

million, respectively. As a result of our undiscounted future cash flow analyses, we performed discounted cash flow analyses for

six

of those communities and recorded aggregate impairment losses, which are included in the Consolidated Statement of Operations on the line entitled “Homebuilding: Inventory impairment loss and land option write-offs” and deducted from inventory, of

$2.7

million,

$2.1

million and

$15.1

million for the years ended

October 31, 2019,

2018

and

2017,

respectively. The

three

communities that did

not

require a discounted cash flow analysis to be performed during the year ended

October 31, 2019,

had an aggregate carrying value of

$41.3

million and undiscounted future cash flows that exceeded the carrying amount by less than

20%.

During the year ended

October 31, 2018,

all

five

communities that required discounted cash flow analyses were impaired, which resulted in recording aggregate impairment losses of

$2.1

million. The pre-impairment value in the table below represents the carrying value, net of prior period impairments, if any, at the time of recording the impairments.

The following table represents impairments by segment for fiscal

2019,

2018

and

2017:

(Dollars in millions)	Year Ended October 31, 2019
	Number of Communities	Dollar Amount of Impairment	Pre- Impairment Value (1)
Northeast	2	$0.2	$7.8
Mid-Atlantic	1	0.3	1.7
Midwest	1	1.4	4.6
Southeast	1	0.7	2.2
Southwest	1	0.1	1.2
West	-	-	-
Total	6	$2.7	$17.5

(Dollars in millions)	Year Ended October 31, 2018
	Number of Communities	Dollar Amount of Impairment	Pre- Impairment Value (1)
Northeast	1	$0.4	$1.0
Mid-Atlantic	-	-	-
Midwest	1	0.1	0.5
Southeast	3	1.6	9.7
Southwest	-	-	-
West	-	-	-
Total	5	$2.1	$11.2

(Dollars in millions)	Year Ended October 31, 2017
	Number of Communities	Dollar Amount of Impairment	Pre- Impairment Value (1)
Northeast	2	$3.3	$22.2
Mid-Atlantic	1	1.5	8.5
Midwest	2	0.2	0.8
Southeast	3	8.1	18.3
Southwest	-	-	-
West	2	2.0	3.1
Total	10	$15.1	$52.9

(

)

Represents carrying value, net of prior period impairments, if any, at the time of recording the applicable period’s impairments.

The Consolidated Statements of Operations line entitled “Homebuilding: Inventory impairment loss and land option write-offs” also includes write-offs of options and approval, engineering and capitalized interest costs that we record when we redesign communities and/or abandon certain engineering costs and we do

not

exercise options in various locations because the communities’ pro forma profitability is

not

projected to produce adequate returns on investment commensurate with the risk. The total aggregate write-offs related to these items were

$3.6

million,

$1.4

million and

$2.7

million for the years ended

October

31,

2019,

2018

and

2017,

respectively. Occasionally, these write-offs are offset by recovered deposits (sometimes through legal action) that had been written off in a prior period as walk-away costs. Historically, these recoveries have

not

been significant in comparison to the total costs written off.

The following table represents write-offs of such costs by segment for fiscal

2019,

2018

and

2017:

	Year Ended October 31,
(In millions)	2019	2018	2017
Northeast	$0.6	$0.6	$0.5
Mid-Atlantic	0.5	0.2	0.6
Midwest	0.9	0.1	0.3
Southeast	0.3	-	0.8
Southwest	0.6	0.2	0.4
West	0.7	0.3	0.1
Total	$3.6	$1.4	$2.7