What is Carpet Area?
Carpet Area — Carpet area is the net usable floor area of an apartment, measured from the internal faces of its walls — including internal partition walls and excluding the external walls, common areas, balcony, verandah and terrace. Under India’s RERA Act 2016, builders must disclose carpet area and price it transparently; it is the area you actually live in and pay for.
What Carpet Area Includes
Under RERA (Section 2(k)) and the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act rules, carpet area counts every square foot you can actually use inside the apartment:
- Rooms — bedrooms, living room, kitchen, bathrooms, dining
- Internal partition walls (their thickness counts inside the carpet area)
- Staircases inside the dwelling unit (for duplexes)
- Kitchen platforms and fixed cupboards built into usable space
What Carpet Area Excludes
The boundary is the internal face of the external walls. Everything beyond it is excluded:
- External (perimeter) walls and their thickness
- Balcony, verandah and open terrace (sold separately, often at 50% of the rate)
- Common areas — lobbies, lifts, stairwells, corridors, clubhouse
- Shafts, ducts and service areas
Carpet vs Built-Up vs Super Built-Up Area
Developers quote three different areas, and the differences directly change your price per square foot:
- Carpet area: the usable area you occupy (typically 70–85% of super built-up in Kolkata high-rises)
- Built-up area: carpet area + walls + balcony (roughly 10–15% more than carpet)
- Super built-up area: built-up area + your proportional share of common areas (lobbies, lifts, clubhouse) — the “saleable area” most developers quote
A Real Kolkata Example
A 2BHK listed on RealtyIQ in New Town quotes a carpet area of about 812 sq ft. At a base price of ₹76 lakh, the true carpet-area rate works out to roughly ₹9,360 per sq ft — but the same flat advertised at ~1,050 sq ft super built-up looks like ₹7,238 per sq ft. Same flat, same price, 29% different rate. This is why RERA made carpet-area disclosure mandatory, and why every RealtyIQ project page shows the carpet area range for each configuration.
Frequently asked questions
Does carpet area include walls?
Carpet area includes internal partition walls (between rooms inside the apartment) but excludes the external perimeter walls, common areas, balcony, verandah and terrace. It is measured wall-to-wall from the internal faces of the outer walls.
Does carpet area include the balcony?
No. Under RERA, balconies, verandahs and open terraces are excluded from carpet area. Developers may sell them separately, often at a lower rate, but they cannot be counted as carpet area.
What is a good carpet-to-super-built-up ratio?
In Kolkata high-rise apartments, a carpet area of 70–75% of the super built-up area is typical; above 80% is efficient (lower loading). RERA requires the ratio to be disclosed so you can compare projects on usable space, not just saleable area.
How do I verify the carpet area a builder quotes?
Check the RERA registration on the official WBRERA portal (wbrcera.in) — the registered documents state the carpet area for every configuration. Compare it with the agreement for sale; under RERA, a mismatch of more than 3% lets the buyer demand a refund or the proportionate difference.
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