The language of real estates is an important factor to comprehend when purchasing or investing in a property. Carpet area, built-up area, and super built-up area are some of the most essential concepts. All these terms define the real space that you can use and the price that you are going to pay.
The carpet area is the real useful space in the walls of a house or an apartment inside of which you can lay a carpet. It does not include the thickness of the inner walls but it does include the spaces such as bedrooms, living room, kitchen, and bathrooms. Carpet area is basically the area where one can live and carry out daily activities.
To the buyers, the most adequate measure is carpet area as that is the actual space that you can utilize. In most countries, such as India, the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) requires real estate prices to be based on the carpet area, but not on built-up or super built-up area, to provide transparency.
Carpet area is a little smaller than built-up area. It comprises the carpet area and the thickness of the internal and external walls, the balconies and other covered spaces. Developers usually use this area when selling the size of a totality of the apartment or house.
Whereas the built-up area provides a clue on the total amount of space that is constructed, it is not as precise in measuring the usable space as the carpet area. The buyers are to observe that the payment of built-up area can involve areas that you cannot use completely, like in the case of the thickness of walls.
The largest measurement is called super built-up area (saleable area) which entails the built-up area and common areas in the building in proportion. The common areas can be staircases, elevators, lobbies, corridors, clubhouses, and gyms.
Super built-up area is usually calculated by developers to determine the final price of the property and thus a buyer can end up paying a lot of money to buy a space that does not belong to the apartment such as a hallway or communal facility.
Knowledge of such differences aids in making sound decisions by buyers and saving money that can be used in other areas that are usable. Carpet area represents the true living area, built-up area represents the total construction and super built-up area represents the shared amenities. When these measurements are made transparent, it makes property investment to be transparent and valuable.
