Carpet vs built-up vs super built-up area
How much gets added to carpet changes the rate per square foot you think you’re paying by a third or more.
THE 60-SECOND VERSION
- 01
Carpet is the legal one
Floor inside the outer walls, internal walls in, balcony out.
- 02
Built-up ≈ carpet × 1.2
Adds walls and usually the balcony. The stamp department uses 1.2.
- 03
Super built-up adds “loading”
Your share of lobbies, lifts and amenities. Typically 25–40% in Pune.
One flat, one price, four different “rates”
Want to go deeper?
The short answer.
Carpet area is the only one of the three the law defines. It is the floor inside your flat's outer walls, internal walls included, balcony excluded.
Built-up adds the walls, and usually the balcony. Maharashtra's stamp department takes it as carpet × 1.2.
Super built-up adds your share of lobbies, lifts, stairs and amenities. The markup over carpet is called loading, and in Pune it typically runs 25–40%.
| Measure | What it counts | Who defines it |
|---|---|---|
| Carpet | Net usable floor inside the external walls, including internal partition walls. No balcony, terrace or shafts. | Section 2(k), RERA Act 2016. Must be disclosed and sold on. |
| Built-up | Carpet + thickness of all walls + usually the balcony. | No RERA definition. For stamp duty valuation, the state takes it as 1.2 × carpet. |
| Super built-up | Built-up + a proportionate share of common areas: lobby, staircase, lift wells, corridors, often clubhouse and amenities. | Nobody. The builder decides what goes in and how it is shared. |
A registered project in Maharashtra has to state and sell on carpet area. Built-up and super built-up still turn up in three places: resale listings for older flats, brochures that print them “for reference”, and conversations where a rate per square foot is quoted without saying per square foot of what.
Loading is the percentage by which super built-up exceeds carpet. The usual formula is:
loading = (super built-up − carpet) ÷ carpet
A flat with 1,000 sq ft of carpet sold as 1,400 sq ft super built-up has 40% loading. Some people divide by the super built-up figure instead. The same flat then shows 28.6%. Neither is wrong, but if two projects quote loading differently, the lower number may not mean less loading. Always ask for the carpet figure and do the sum yourself.
Higher loading is not automatically bad. A tower with a large clubhouse, wide corridors and four lifts will load more than a walk-up. What matters is that you compare prices on carpet area, where the common areas are left out and every project is measured the same way.
Unit 103 at Royal Paradise, Warje has 661 sq ft of RERA carpet and a 179 sq ft balcony. The developer's cost sheet prices it on carpet plus balcony, 840 sq ft at ₹9,520, which comes to an agreement value of about ₹80 lakh. Now divide that same ₹80 lakh by each measure:
| Divide ≈ ₹79.97 L by | Area | Rate you would quote |
|---|---|---|
| RERA carpet | 661 sq ft | ₹12,098 / sq ft |
| Built-up (carpet × 1.2) | 793 sq ft | ₹10,082 / sq ft |
| Carpet + balcony (developer's basis) | 840 sq ft | ₹9,520 / sq ft |
| Super built-up at 30% loading | 859 sq ft | ₹9,306 / sq ft |
| Super built-up at 40% loading | 925 sq ft | ₹8,641 / sq ft |
Carpet, balcony and rate from the developer's area statement and cost sheet. The built-up and super built-up rows are calculations to show the spread. Royal Paradise is not marketed on super built-up.
The same flat at the same price can be described as “₹8,600 a square foot” or “₹12,100 a square foot”. Both statements are arithmetically true. If you are told a project in the next lane is “₹1,500 cheaper per square foot”, the first question is per square foot of what.
carpet rate = quoted rate × (quoted area ÷ carpet area)
- If you know the loading: ₹8,000 per sq ft of super built-up at 35% loading is ₹8,000 × 1.35 = ₹10,800 per sq ft of carpet.
- If you know the built-up rate: multiply by 1.2. ₹9,000 built-up ≈ ₹10,800 carpet.
- If you know neither: ask for the carpet area in square metres, which every registered project has to state. Divide the total price by it.
Maharashtra's ready reckoner, the government rate table used for stamp duty, is quoted per square metre of built-up area. When a document gives carpet area, the registration department's guidelines convert it at carpet × 1.2. Stamp duty is then charged on the higher of your agreement value and that ready-reckoner value. Our all-inclusive cost guide works through what that means in Pune.
The same factor has decided real disputes. In Elanit George Jacobs v Reliance Construction (Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal, November 2023), a flat sold as 1,210 sq ft built-up was registered on MahaRERA as 62.08 sq m of carpet. The tribunal multiplied by 1.2, found about 802 sq ft of built-up, and ordered a refund of ₹42.5 lakh for the difference. Our carpet area shortfall guide covers that case and the 3% rule.
Flats bought before RERA came in, in 2017, were often sold on built-up or super built-up area, and resale listings still repeat those figures. Before comparing a resale flat with a new one:
- Find the area in the original agreement or the Index II and note which measure it says it is.
- If it is built-up, divide by 1.2 for an approximate carpet area. If it is super built-up, ask the society what loading was used, or measure the flat.
- If the figure is an old MOFA carpet area, it may include the balcony. See our MOFA vs RERA guide before converting.
- Compare price per square foot of carpet against carpet, never against a number of unknown origin.
- What is this unit's RERA carpet area in square metres, as it will appear in the agreement?
- Is the rate you quoted per square foot of carpet, carpet plus balcony, built-up or super built-up?
- If any figure is built-up or super built-up, what loading percentage was used and what common areas are in it?
- What is the total price, so I can divide it by the carpet area myself?
We are a channel partner, not a promoter, and developers pay our fee. Our listings show RERA carpet first, show every other figure labelled, and show what the price works out to per square foot on each basis, as on the Royal Paradise page. Nothing here is legal or valuation advice.
Sources
- RERA Act 2016, s.2(k): MahaRERA (PDF)
- Ready reckoner (ASR) guidelines: IGR Maharashtra
- Elanit George Jacobs v Reliance Construction Co., MahaREAT, 9 November 2023: order (PDF)
- Royal Paradise area statement and cost sheet: developer documents, summarised on our project page
Ask the builder, in writing
- 01What is this unit’s RERA carpet in m²?
- 02Is the rate per ft² of carpet, carpet + balcony, built-up or super built-up?
- 03If super built-up, what loading % and which common areas are in it?
- 04What is the total price, so I can divide it by carpet myself?