Carpet Area vs Built-up Area vs Super Built-up Area

Carpet area

Carpet area is the floor area you can actually use inside the flat. The RERA Act, 2016 defines it as the net usable floor area of an apartment, excluding the area covered by the external walls, service shafts, exclusive balcony or verandah and exclusive open terrace, but including the area covered by the internal partition walls.

Developers registered under RERA must state the carpet area of each unit, which makes it the most reliable number for comparing two projects.

Built-up area

Built-up area is carpet area plus the thickness of the walls, and usually the balcony. It is larger than carpet area, but it still only counts space that belongs to your flat.

Super built-up area

Super built-up area adds your proportionate share of common areas — staircases, lift lobbies, corridors and sometimes amenities such as the clubhouse. The gap between carpet and super built-up area (often called “loading”) varies from project to project, so two flats with the same super built-up area can have quite different usable space.

How to compare prices fairly

• Ask for the carpet area of the exact unit, in writing.
• Divide the total price by the carpet area to get a carpet rate per sq.ft, and compare that rate across projects.
• Check that the carpet area in the agreement for sale matches the one on the RERA registration.
• Ask what is included in the price: parking, maintenance deposit, club membership and taxes are often extra.

On this site

We quote carpet area wherever the developer provides it, so the sizes and per-sq.ft rates on our project and area pages compare like for like.