To the best of my understanding, these terms stands for (starting from actual area that you can use till the Super area):
1. Carpet Area: Carpet area is the area calculated from wall to wall inside the house, this would include steps if any, inside the house. In other terms, it’s the actual area inside the house that you can use. In layman’s terms, it is the actual area where carpet can be laid and can be measured. Kindly note that this area is not inclusive of the area of the walls.
2. Built up area - Built-up area is the area of the apartment which includes the carpet area plus the area of the balcony and area of the walls and ducts. Generally it is around 10% more than the carpet area. A terrace is considered as half the actual area for calculating built up area. Although some projects charge dry terrace same as internal rooms.
3. Super Built Up / Sale-able area - The built-up area along with the area under common spaces like lobby, lifts, stairs, gymnasium, garden and swimming pool is called super built-up area. Interestingly it is around 25%-35% more than the build up area. Usually builders are quoting the Super Built Up area in there brochures.
All these terms are regularly used to sell property and there is no right or wrong way. However some methods of selling benefit the developers more than the buyers. Usually flats and apartments are sold on Super built-up basis but buyers prefer either built-up or carpet area.
Let’s calculate the Carpet Area from the layout plan provided by the builder. For illustration purpose, I have taken a sample layout plan for 2 bedroom+ Study room layouts
| Type | Size (Feet and Inches) | Area (square feet) |
| Bedroom 1 | 13’ X 11’ | 143 |
| Bedroom 2 | 11’ X 10’ | 110 |
| Dining Room | 15’-6” X 11’ | 170.5 |
| Study Room | 8’ X 7’-6” | 60 |
| Kitchen | 7’-6” X 8’-6” | 63.75 |
| Toilet 1 | 5’ X 7’-6” | 37.5 |
| Toilet 2 | 5’ X 7’-6” | 37.5 |
| C.B. 1 | 6’ X 1’ | 6 |
| C.B. 2 | 5’ X 1’ | 5 |
| Balcony 1 | 3’-6” X 2’ | 7 |
| Balcony 2 | 4’ X 2’ | 8 |
| Utility | 3’-6” X 2’ | 7 |
Hence the total area inside the house is 633.25. Now terraces are generally considered by halving their actual area. So, carpet area considered of the terrace is 22/2 sqft = 11 sqft.
So, the total carpet area for the rooms of the flat comes to be approximately 644 sqft. Now there is a passage area at the center of the flat, which looks approximately 5 feet by 3 feet 6 inches, which adds 17.5 sqft more to the carpet area.
So, approximate carpet area of the flat = 662 sqft. The carpet area comes around 65% of the Super Build Up area. Usually carpet area varies from 60% to 75% of the Super Built up Area.
The key is to ask for the carpet area of the property you are buying, and verify it by doing a calculation as given above, and also verify the dimensions actually on the ground if possible. As long as we have open market economy, you will always have choices. So, if you find that a project has a multiplying factor of 65% for super built up area and another has 70%, the simplest thing you can do, is get the carpet area of the actual rooms and find out the per sqft rate based on carpet area, to compare the two projects.
I have attached an excel sheet in which you can put all the parameters of the property in it, like carpet area, parking charges etc. Use that sheet as your basis of taking decision and not the glossy marketing brochures they give you! Happy Hunting…
Click here to get the excel sheet
