Real estate sales glossary for India
The terms developers, sales teams and channel partners use every day, from carpet area and PLC to cost per site visit. Each definition is written to be quoted on its own.
Area and pricing
Carpet area
The net usable floor area of an apartment. The RERA Act, 2016 defines it as the area inside the apartment excluding external walls, service shafts, exclusive balconies or verandahs and exclusive open terraces, but including internal partition walls. Projects registered under RERA must state the carpet area.
Built-up area
Carpet area plus the thickness of the walls and, in most quotes, balconies. It has no statutory definition, so what it includes varies by developer.
Super built-up area
Built-up area plus a proportionate share of common areas such as lobbies, lifts, staircases and the clubhouse. Sometimes called saleable area. Because the carpet area must now be disclosed, buyers compare the two to see how much of the price pays for common areas.
Loading
The gap between super built-up area and carpet area, expressed as a percentage. A 1,300 sq ft super built-up unit with 1,000 sq ft of carpet area has 30% loading.
Basic sale priceBSP
The base price of a unit, per square foot or per unit, before preferential location charges, floor rise, parking, club membership, statutory charges and taxes.
Preferential location chargePLC
A premium on top of the BSP for units in a preferred position, such as park-facing, corner, sea-facing or road-facing units.
Floor rise charge
An extra charge per square foot for each floor above a base floor, reflecting better views and light on higher floors.
All-inclusive price
The total a buyer pays for a unit: BSP plus PLC, floor rise, parking, club and maintenance deposits, taxes, stamp duty and registration. Quoting it upfront avoids surprises at agreement stage.
Booking, documents and approvals
RERA registration
Registration of a real estate project with the state's Real Estate Regulatory Authority. Section 3 of the RERA Act bars a promoter from advertising, marketing, booking or selling units in a project that must be registered until it is registered.
Expression of interestEOI
A form, usually with a refundable amount, that a buyer submits to register interest in a project or unit before formal booking. Because RERA restricts bookings before registration, check how your state authority treats EOIs before collecting them.
Booking amount
The payment a buyer makes to reserve a specific unit. Section 13 of the RERA Act stops a promoter from taking more than 10% of the cost of the unit as an advance or application fee without first signing a written agreement for sale.
Allotment letter
The developer's letter confirming that a specific unit has been allotted to the buyer, with its number, area and price. It usually follows the booking and comes before the agreement for sale.
Agreement for sale
The registered contract between developer and buyer that sets out the unit, carpet area, price, payment schedule, possession date and both parties' obligations.
Completion certificateCC
Issued by the local planning authority once construction is finished, confirming the building was built according to the sanctioned plan.
Occupancy certificateOC
Issued by the local authority to certify that a building is fit to be occupied. Buyers generally shouldn't take possession, and utilities may not be connected, until the OC is issued.
Possession
Handing the finished unit to the buyer. The possession date promised in the agreement for sale is the one the developer is held to under RERA.
Channel partners
Channel partnerCP
A broker or agency that sells a developer's inventory for a commission. Section 9 of the RERA Act requires real estate agents to register with the state authority before facilitating sales in registered projects. How PropT's channel partner portal works →
CP attribution
Recording which channel partner brought a buyer, so the right partner is paid when the buyer books. Disputes start when two partners register the same buyer, which is why duplicate checks at lead submission matter. Lead submission with duplicate detection →
Commission slab
A tiered commission structure where a channel partner's percentage rises with the number or value of bookings in a period, for example a higher rate after the fifth booking in a quarter.
TDS on commission
Income tax the developer deducts at source from a channel partner's commission and deposits with the government. GST on the partner's invoice is separate. Payouts are usually shown as gross commission, GST, TDS and net amount. Commission tracking in RevenueOS →
Sales and marketing metrics
Site visitSV
A prospect's visit to the project site or sales office. For most developers the site visit is the stage that best predicts a booking, so it's the main thing sales and marketing are measured on. Site visit scheduling in RevenueOS →
Cost per leadCPL
Marketing spend divided by the number of leads it produced. ₹2,00,000 spent for 400 leads is a CPL of ₹500.
Cost per site visitCPSV
Marketing spend divided by the site visits it produced. It's a better measure of campaign quality than CPL, because cheap leads that never visit cost more in the end. ₹2,00,000 for 40 visits is a CPSV of ₹5,000. Campaign attribution in GrowthOS →
Cost per bookingCPB
Marketing spend divided by the bookings it produced. ₹2,00,000 for 4 bookings is a CPB of ₹50,000.
Lead-to-visit ratio
The share of leads that turn into a site visit. 40 visits from 400 leads is a 10% lead-to-visit ratio. Tracked by source, it shows which portals and campaigns bring serious buyers.
Lead scoring
Ranking leads by how likely they are to book, using signals such as replies, site visits, budget fit and recency, so the sales team calls the best leads first. Smart lead scoring in RevenueOS →
Blocking a unit
Temporarily holding a unit for a buyer, often for a few days, while they arrange the booking amount. Live inventory prevents two salespeople or partners blocking the same unit. Live inventory in PropertyOS →
DLT registration
TRAI's rules require businesses that send commercial SMS in India to register their sender IDs (headers) and message templates on a telecom operator's distributed ledger (DLT) platform. Unregistered messages are blocked.
WhatsApp 24-hour window
On the WhatsApp Business Platform, a business can send free-form replies for 24 hours after the customer's last message. Outside that window it can only send pre-approved message templates.
Definitions are general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules differ by state; check with your state's RERA authority and your tax adviser.