Carpet, built-up and super built-up
- Carpet area is the usable floor area inside the flat's walls. Under RERA it excludes external walls, service shafts, exclusive balconies and open terraces, and includes internal partition walls.
- Built-up area adds the walls and usually balconies.
- Super built-up area adds your share of common areas: lobbies, stairs, lifts, and sometimes the clubhouse.
The gap between super built-up and carpet area is called loading. Ask every builder for both figures in writing, and the loading percentage.
A worked example
A 2 BHK is quoted at 1,150 sq ft super built-up at ₹4,000 per sq ft, which is ₹46 lakh. If its carpet area is 820 sq ft, you are really paying about ₹5,610 per carpet sq ft. A second flat quoted at ₹4,300 per sq ft with lower loading can turn out cheaper per usable sq ft. These figures are an illustration, not market rates.
What goes into the final price
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Base price | Area × rate. Confirm which area the rate applies to. |
| Floor rise, preferential location | Extra per sq ft for higher floors, corner or park-facing units |
| Parking, clubhouse, power backup | Often charged separately |
| GST | 5% on under-construction flats, 1% for affordable housing (carpet up to 60 sq m in metros or 90 sq m elsewhere, price up to ₹45 lakh), none on ready flats with a completion certificate |
| Stamp duty and registration | About 8.2% for a man, 7% for a woman. See stamp duty in Jaipur. |
| Maintenance deposit | Collected by the builder or society at possession |
Add all of these in the flat price calculator.
1, 2 and 3 BHK
A BHK label says how many bedrooms a flat has, not how big it is. Two 3 BHK flats can differ by hundreds of square feet of carpet area. Compare carpet area and the size of each room, not the label.
Where people look
The most searched areas for flats are Jagatpura, Mansarovar, Vaishali Nagar, Malviya Nagar, Vidhyadhar Nagar, Pratap Nagar, Patrakar Colony, C-Scheme and Raja Park. Land value is a good signal of long-term flat value, so check each area's plot rate, and see what a flat you own is worth today with the property value calculator.
Sources
This guide explains how things generally work. It is not legal advice. Have a property lawyer check the documents before you pay.