Looking To Buy A House? Know About Carpet, Built-Up And Super Built-Up Area

These terms define the area of a property which becomes an important factor at the time of buying a flat or a house

The built-up area is calculated as the carpet area plus the area covered by walls, balconies, terrace and exclusive corridors, or any such area that is meant for exclusive use.

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If you are eyeing to buy a property then it is important for customers to understand concepts such as carpet area, built-up area, and super built-up area. These terms define the area of a property which becomes a critical factor at the time of buying a flat or house.

A look at three terms

Carpet area

Simply put, the area of a house that can be covered by a carpet is known as carpet area excluding the thickness of the inner walls. But to be precise, it is the net usable area (NUA) of a flat which comprises the living and dining rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms and the kitchen. However, if you go by the Rera (Real Estate Regulatory Authority) Act, the carpet area definition is slightly different. It is the NUA along with the area taken up by the internal partition walls of the flat.

Note, that the carpet area excludes the external walls of a flat, balconies, verandas, and terraces besides common areas such as lifts, corridors, clubhouse, etc. Such an area is considered a private space of the homeowner and not shared with the other occupants of the building or the housing society. Normally, the carpet area is considered 60-70 per cent of the super built-up area in residential housing projects with several amenities and open space, Mint quoted Rakesh Agarwal, senior vice president, India Sotheby’s International Realty. As a homebuyer, you must always check the actual carpet area given and the carpet area promised too ensure there is no discrepancy.

Built-up area

Now, the built-up area is calculated as the carpet area plus the area covered by walls, balconies, terrace and exclusive corridors, or any such area that is meant for exclusive use. However, it excludes all common areas such as lifts, corridors, clubhouse, etc.

Super built-up area

Also, known as the saleable area, super built-up area is calculated as the built-up area plus proportionate share in all the common areas including the lifts, corridors, clubhouse, etc. Owner of house always have a proportionate share in the common areas to be shared by all residents of the building.

For example, consider an apartment with two flats having built-up areas of 500 sq ft and 1,000 sq ft along with a common area of 1,200 sq ft respectively. The common area mentioned will then get divided proportionately into 400 sq ft and 800 sq ft (1,200 sq ft divided in a 1:2 ratio) which gets added to each of their built-up areas to calculate the super built-up areas of 900 sq ft and 1,800 sq ft, respectively for the two flats.

Also, note that selling properties on the basis of the super-built-up area has become illegal and only carpet area is a valid 'denomination'.