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Carpet area, built up area and super built up area: Know the difference

[ecis2016.org] Let’s admit it – the terms and jargon thrown at us by agents and realtors have us staring at them cluelessly most of the time. While buying a house, terms such as carpet area, built-up area and super built-up area moslty evade our realm of understanding, or at least cause some confusion. In every residential complex, there are these three ways of calculating the area, or the square footage. They may not all sound very different, but there is in fact a big difference between carpet area and built-up area!

Home buyers in India would invariably comes across terms like carpet area, built up area and super built up area as they try to gauge the size of homes. This article is meant to act as your guide to understanding these three terms and what they convey.

You are reading: Carpet area, built up area and super built up area: Know the difference

What is carpet area? 

Carpet area means that area in the flat which you could cover using a carpet. Also known as the net usable area, the carpet area is that space in your home which can be used for laying a carpet.

What is RERA carpet area?

According to the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (RERA), carpet area means ‘the net usable floor area of an apartment, excluding the area covered by the external walls but including the area covered by internal partition walls of the apartment’. Under the government’s PMAY programme, carpet area is defined as the ‘area enclosed within the walls and the actual area to lay the carpet’.

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Real Estate Basics Part 1 – Carpet Area, Built-Up Area & Super Built-Up Area

Formula to calculate carpet area

Carpet area = Area of bedroom + living room + balconies + toilets – the thickness of the inner walls

[ecis2016.org] How is RERA carpet area defined?

What is built up area?

The built up area in a flat is its carpet area plus the space taken by the wall. The build up area in a flat also includes other unusable areas like balcony, terrace, flower beds, etc. This is why the space in a flat would seem larger when it is expressed in build-up area terms.

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Built up area formula 

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Built up area in your home includes some additional areas apart from the carpet area. You can arrive at the built up area in your home by using the following formula:

Built-up area = Carpet area + area of walls + area of balcony

What is super built up area?

A housing society consists of various common areas. While the buyer has to pay a monthly maintenance charge for the upkeep of these areas, he will also have to shell out money for a proportionate part of these spaces at the time of the purchase. Builders typically use the loading factor – constructed spaces not exclusively allocated to the buyer – on the carpet area, to arrive at the super built up area.

Super built up area meaning

Developers arrive at the super-built up area of a unit by way of adding the total built-up area with the area occupied by common areas, including the corridor, the lift lobby, the elevator, etc. In some cases, builders even include amenities such as pools, gardens and clubhouses, in the common area.

Real Estate Basics Part 1 – Carpet Area, Built-Up Area & Super Built-Up Area

Carpet area, built up area and super built up area in Indian real estate

Before the RERA made it mandatory for builders to sell flats based on carpet area, they widely used the super-built-up area as the space-measuring unit, to cash in on the lack of clarity on space calculation. The use of super built-up area as the measuring unit, helped them to lower the per sq ft cost of the property. It also gave the buyer a false impression that they were investing in a large home when they actually were not.

“Super built-up area is the big number, which developers prefer to market their projects with. It is the number they arrive at, by adding common areas with built-up areas. Super built-up area is also known as the saleable area, because it becomes a yardstick for developers to quote their buyers,” explains Vijay Verma, CEO, Sunworld Group. With more than one apartment on a floor, the calculation of super built-up area is done differently, he adds.

Suppose a house with a carpet area of 1,000 sq ft is priced at Rs 2,000 per sq ft. In such a scenario, the overall cost of the property will be Rs 20,00,000. To make the marketing pitch even more attractive, a developer will provide the super built-up area (let’s say, 1,300 sq ft) and price the property lower at, say, Rs 1,800 per sq ft. In this scenario, the overall cost of the property will be Rs 23.40 lakhs. To a naïve buyer, the latter would any day sound way more attractive than the former.

Real Estate Basics Part 1 – Carpet Area, Built-Up Area & Super Built-Up Area

What is covered in super built up area?

  • Built up area of the flat
  • Clubhouses
  • Air ducts
  • Pipe / shaft ducts
  • Lift
  • Staircases
  • Lobby
  • Swimming pool
  • Gymnasium
  • Any other common facilities

Note: The additional area will be added to the carpet area based on the loading factor used by the builder.

Formula to calculate super built-up area

Super built-up area = Built-up area + proportionate common area

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Or

Super built-up area = Carpet area (1+loading factor)

Note: The loading would be in the range of 15% to 50%, depending on builder and the exact location.

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Super built-up area calculation example

When there are more than one apartments on a floor, the super built-up area is calculated in a different manner.

Let us assume that on the fifth floor of a housing society, Sanjay Mehta owners an apartment with a built-up area of 1,000 sq ft. On the same floor, Amit Lal owns an apartment with a built-up area of 2,000 sq ft. The total common area on the floor is 1,500 sq ft.

Now, to calculate the super built-up area of the two apartments, the builder would divide in the ratio of the apartments’ built-up areas (in this case 1:2) add 500 sq ft extra space in Mehta’s total built-up area and 1,000 sq ft extra in Lal’s built-up area. Now, the super built-up area of Mehta’s apartment is 1,500 sq ft and Lal’s is 3,000 sq ft.

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Carpet area, built-up area, super built-up area: Area-wise inclusion list

Area Carpet area Built up area Super built up area
Bedroom Yes Yes Yes
Living room Yes Yes Yes
Bathroom Yes Yes Yes
Kitchen Yes Yes Yes
Study room Yes Yes Yes
Guest room Yes Yes Yes
Kid’s room Yes Yes Yes
Dining room Yes Yes Yes
Lobby No No Yes
Balcony No Yes Yes
External staircase No Yes Yes
Internal staircase Yes Yes Yes
Pooja room Yes Yes Yes
Terrace No Yes Yes
Lift No Yes Yes
Verandah No Yes Yes
Garden No No Yes

Final carpet area calculation

In most cases, the carpet area in your flat would typically be 70% of its built-up area.  So, if the built-up area of a property is 1,500 sq ft, its carpet area would typically be 1,050 sq ft.

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Carpet area FAQs

What is carpet area

Carpet area is the area that can actually be covered by a carpet or the area of the apartment excluding the thickness of inner walls.

How to calculate carpet area

You can calculate the carpet area if you know the exact built-up area.

What is carpet area according to RERA

According to the RERA, carpet area is defined as ‘the net usable floor area of an apartment’.

How to calculate loading on carpet area

If a builder puts 1.25 as the loading factor, then it means 25% of space has been added to the carpet area of the flat.

What is included in carpet area

Carpet area does not include the area covered by the external walls, areas under services shafts, exclusive balcony or verandah area and exclusive open terrace area.

What is the difference between carpet area and built-up area

Carpet area is the area that can actually be covered by a carpet while built-up area is the area that comes after adding carpet area and wall area.

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Source: https://ecis2016.org
Category: Must Knows

Debora Berti

Università degli Studi di Firenze, IT

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