When we generally speak about finding an apartment on Lease we tend to say, "We are looking for a 2 bedroom or a 3 Bedrooms apartment." Compared to what is available in other parts of India, the 2 bedrooms and 3 bedrooms space could be quiet deceptive in Mumbai as there are various definitions an apartment is sold at the first place. A 2 BHK (The Commonly used term BHK – Stands for Bedroom, Hall (Living and Dining) & Kitchen.) typically can be as small as 700 sq.ft in carpet area and can be as large as 1200 sq.ft in Carpet area. Hence, we usually recommend our clients to look at apartments from the perspective of space and they should typically discount around 30% from the quoted Built Up Area to derive at the Carpet area. Newer buildings in Mumbai have a higher built up to carpet ratio and the older buildings have a better area efficiency.

In Commercial and Retail property the differences range from 30% to 50% . But for Call Centers and large floor plates above 25000 sq.ft types can have a difference of around 20% depending on the developers and location.

In Mumbai, the apartments generally Built up area is the stand measure considered in most of the casual discussions.

Typical Apartments available in Mumbai are 1, 2, 3, 4 bedroom apartments. There are also buildings and pent houses available with 5 and 6 Bedrooms with Terraces, Balconies etc. Finding a spacious Bungalow with a Garden is a dream in Mumbai and even if you find one they are always surrounded with tall buildings and thus defeating the purpose of living in one. A lot of Expatriates when they come to Mumbai ask for Bungalows and Villas to live in and they are disappointed to see only a handful. Most of the Bungalows are available in Andheri West, Juhu, Bandra and Goregaon East barring a few in South Mumbai which are extremely expensive and difficult to maintain.

Typical Apartments available in Mumbai are 1, 2, 3, 4 bedroom apartments. Usually the 1 BHK apartments have 1 Bath and Toilet (they could be separate in select cases). The 2 BHK apartments have 2 bedrooms, one of them mostly is a Master Bedroom and the other one has a Common Bath. The Larger 3 Bedrooms may have large living rooms, store or service area and separate exits for maids etc. There are other properties like small 1 Room Kitchen average size 400 sq.ft and Bungalow, Villas, Pent Houses, Row Houses, Duplexes, Triplexes etc. These are in any case rare to find and are the privilege surely of the Page 3 people of Mumbai.

Some average Sizes in Builtup areas are:

1 BHK	2 BHK	3 BHK	4 BHK	5 BHK
400 – 700	800 – 1300	1200 – 3000	1500 – 4500	2200 -5000

If you look on the Internet and especially when you will do a search on the keywords as “built up area” on Google you will get several links only coming from the Indian Sub Continent as this is the most common way the apartment sizes are measured in Metros and other II tier and III tier cities in India.

There is no set rule or regulation set or any industry standard set up. A difference upto 25% is considered fantastic and that is given by Top of the Line Builders only, of course at Price which is premium which compensates the difference in any case.

Only Stamp Duty department has a set rule to it. The Stamp Duty is charged on Carpet Area + 20%.

Here are a few so called “Definitions” which will help you understand the various differences between Built up, Carpet and Super Built up Areas.