Mumbai is one of the highest loaded areas in the country, call it the lack of land availability or the higher cost of construction. Whilst the other Indian megapolis maintain an average of 30-50% loading on carpet area, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) follows about 60-70% loading on the unit prices when it comes to buying houses.

What is loading?

With the introduction of RERA, it is uncompliant for a builder to charge for anything but carpet area. So, regardless of the amenities and the 'extras' one might get in a building, the unit value is calculated on the useable carpet area, space which you could physically use, within the apartment. Now, this leads the developer to boost up the unit value for the carpet area to recover his entire cost of construction.

The developer applies loading, which means that he adds the proportionate value of the additional amenities like the lawns, swimming-pools, lobby, lifts, passage, gardens etc. upon the per sq. ft. price of the carpet area. For example, if a 1000 sq. ft. 2BHK in a complex with multiple added amenities would have a loading of about 67%, which would make the countable area 1670 sq. ft.

Now, if the unit price of one sq. ft. in that given location is ₹ 10,000; the total gross payment would be ₹ 1,67,00,000. To be RERA compliant, the payment needs to be based on the carpet area. Since that area is 1000 sq. ft. the unit value of the carpet area will be ₹ 16,700.

The added ₹ 6700 is what we know as loading.

What is the ideal loading in the MMR?

As mentioned earlier, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region follows a general suit of 60-70% loading in multi-facility projects. Though, loading factors change on many variables. To provide you with an instance, loading could be 20% in a stand-alone tower with very limited extras, and in some cases, the loading factor can be as high as 80% if the developer offers some exquisite, 'out-of-the-box' amenities like an amphitheatre, cinema, terrace jog-track etc.

The factor also changes from city to city and area to area. Within Mumbai, the central suburbs are a bit reluctant when charging a heavy loading because of a booming affordable housing market, on the other hand, the Western Suburbs are more to appeal the affluence and fancy-buyers.

We recommend our clients to use their due diligence when considering something so sensitive.