What are Carpet Area, Built Up Area, Plinth Area and Super Built Up Area? What all spaces are included in which area?
This question has puzzled almost everyone who has purchased a property or is about to purchase one. So we usually got confused when we hear a number of technical words such as, Carpet area, Built up area, Super built up area — which are mostly heard from real estate agents or while exploring floor plans. This article helps the new house buyers to understand these technical terms.
Carpet area: As the name suggests it is very simple — the area where you can lay carpet. In other words the area within the wall where the tiles are laid on the floor is known as carpet area. This is the area which one actually uses. Generally the room sizes specified are always of carpet area. As per the latest real estate regulation act- carpet area excludes the external walls of the house but includes all internal walls. Carpet area also excludes the balcony areas. So when you say that the room measures 3 m x 4 m, the carpet area is 12 sq. mt. This is the actual area which you can call your personal space and you should be really concerned about.
Areas included in Carpet Area
- All Rooms — Living Room, Bedrooms, Dining Room, Dressing Room, Other Rooms.
- Kitchen and Bathrooms
- Stores and Balconies
Areas not included in Carpet Area
- External and Internal walls
- Common Areas
- Balconies are included in carpet area calculation whereas terraces (if any attached to a unit) are generally sold separately at a lower per sqft rate !
Built — Up Area: The carpet area as well as the thickness of the wall. Hence Built Up Area means the area occupied by the building on the ground / land. In other words Built up Area can be calculated by adding areas of utility ducts within property unit, internal and external walls to the carpet area. This term is not so important while buying a flats/property as almost all developers sell the property on super built up area. But, this term becomes important while dealing with government departments uses for eg. Sometimes in most of the states property taxes are charged on built up area/ plinth area.
Areas included in Built Up Area/ Plinth Area
- Entire carpet area
- Internal and External Walls
- Utility Ducts within walls of the unit
Areas not included in Built Up Area/ Plinth Area
- Common Areas
In case of a house there would be many rooms and many walls. Hence the carpet area would depend on the numbers and thickness of walls. The thicker the walls, less the carpet area and vise versa. Generally in traditional houses with 20 or 23 cm brick masonry walls the carpet area is normally 85 to 90% of built up area. If you achieve that your architect has really done a good job in terms of efficiency of usage of area.
Super Built Up Area : The carpet area, built — up area and common areas like lobby, lifts shaft, stairs, etc is known as super built -up area.
Super built area or the saleable area is the area sold by the developer to the customer. This includes a proportionate share of all that is built within the development. This means built up area + area occupied by common amenities like lifts, corridors, awnings, club house, stairs. Super built up is usually around 25% more than Built up area. This is also called as Salable Area.
Areas included in Super Built Up Area
- Entire Built Up Area
- Common Areas — lobby, lift ducts, staircases, pipe ducts/ shafts, air ducts, covered community centers/ clubs house, other covered common facilities.
Areas not included (generally should not be included) in Super Built Up Area
- Roof Terrace
- Open Areas like parks, gardens, play areas etc.
‘Sometimes, Super Built Up Area is also called as usable area, saleable area or just super area.
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