Difference Between Carpet Area - Built Up Area and Super Built Up Area

The area of a property is generally measured in square feet or square metres. When looking for a home, terminology like carpet area, built-up area, and super built-up area may come up. As a buyer, these phrases may be confusing, and many people believe they are interchangeable. Although they may appear to be the same, there are significant differences between the carpet and built-up areas.

Area covered by carpet:

The carpet area is the area in the flat or apartment that you might cover with a carpet. The carpet area, also known as the net useable area, is the space in your home that may be utilised to lay a carpet. The thickness of the inside wall is included, however the balcony or patio is not. The carpet area is defined as the distance between the inner walls in technical terms. It will also contain a staircase only if it is located within the unit. In India, real estate developers abused these phrases by misleading customers about the actual useable area and coining elaborate terminology to create the illusion of a vast space. Following the implementation of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act of 2016 (RERA), all builders must now offer flats based on the carpet area.

According to RERA, an apartment's net useable floor area excludes areas covered by exterior walls, areas beneath services shafts, the balcony or verandah, and any open terrace area, but includes areas covered by the apartment's internal partition walls.

The carpet area is calculated as follows: bedroom + living room + balconies + toilets – the inner wall thickness.

In most circumstances, your flat's carpet area will be 70 percent of its total built-up space. If a property's built-up size is 1,500 square feet, the carpet area is approximately 1,050 square feet.

The importance of the carpet area is as follows:

The area estimate and the amount of room you'd get in return for the price you'd spend to buy the property are crucial. As is evident, the more space you have, the more money you'll spend. Similarly, the cheaper the cost, the smaller the room. Builders are now legally required to indicate the carpet area when measuring pricing units under RERA. While developing an under-construction project, provisions have also been created for the growth and reduction in its measurement. If the carpet area is lowered during construction, the builder is required to reimburse the extra cash to the customer within 45 days, plus yearly interest. In the event that the carpet area is increased, the developer may require the buyer to pay the difference. RERA, on the other hand, limits the growth in carpet area to a maximum of 3%.

Built-Up 

The carpet area plus the space covered by the inner walls and the balcony make up the built-up area of your flat or apartment. The interior walls and balconies of housing flats in India account for about 30% of the total area of the building. This implies that if the developer says the unit's built-up space is 1,000 square feet, you should expect the apartment's net useable area, or carpet area, to be no more than 700 square feet.

The built-up space, according to RERA, comprises the carpet area as well as any other areas that have been approved by the authorities, such as the area of the exterior and inner walls, the dry balcony area, and so on.

Calculation of the built-up area:

Built-up area = carpet area + wall area minus balcony and corridor.

Super Built-Up

The buyer must pay a monthly maintenance price for the care of numerous common places in a housing society, such as the hallway, lift lobby, elevator, and so on. At the time of purchase, upkeep is a proportionate percentage of these areas. To get to the super built-up area, builders often employ the loading factor – developed areas not exclusively dedicated to the buyer – on the carpet area. In certain situations, builders put facilities in the common area, such as pools, gardens, and clubhouses.

Builders routinely utilised the super-built-up area as the space measurement unit before RERA made it essential for them to sell flats based on the carpet area, to take advantage of the lack of clarity on space computation. They were able to reduce the property's per sq. ft. cost by using super built-up area as a measurement unit. It also provided the purchasers the misleading idea that they were purchasing a vast property when they were not.

Built-up area + proportional common area = Super built-up area.

It's the distinction between your flat's very built-up and carpeted areas. It's utilised to add built-in areas that aren't specifically assigned to you. It comprises common features like as elevators, lobbies, stairwells, and amenities, as well as a portion of your terrace or balcony. The loading factor of 1.20 indicates that your builder has increased the carpet area by 20%. The loading factor will be low if the residential complex does not have numerous facilities. In the majority of circumstances, a loading factor of 1.30 is adequate.

Always inquire about the carpet area of the property and negotiate the price based on this amount as a buyer. Always evaluate the price per square foot on the carpet surface, not the built-up or super built-up area, when comparing different projects or properties. When compared to the current costs in the region, this will verify that your comparison is accurate and that the offered price is proper and appropriate.