GFA is the number developers quote, buyers compare, and practically nobody actually lives in. The useful number sits 10-18% lower.
Gross floor area is the total floor area of a building measured across all floors, inclusive of external walls, corridors, lift shafts, mechanical spaces, plant rooms, and in some definitions even the service balconies. For a unit inside that building, the relevant variants are: built-up area (BUA — the unit’s share of the GFA including its share of common walls), net area (the usable internal floor space), and sellable area (the number the developer sells you).
The gap between GFA-derived built-up and actual usable net varies by building form. Efficient slim-floor plate towers lose around 10-12% to walls and ducts. Thick-plate luxury buildings with wide balconies, large cores, and generous circulation can lose 18-22%. On a “1,000 sqft” unit, that’s 100-220 sqft of area you’re paying for but not using.
A client last year compared two apartments at the same per-sqft GFA price. Net area differed by 80 sqft. The “cheaper” unit was actually more expensive on useable space.
GFA is a math number. Net area is where you live.
Related: Net Area, Sellable Area, Price per sqft, Layout.
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