Bengaluru real estate: Apartment sizes shrink as developers trim carpet areas by 8% to keep home prices affordable
Bengaluru homebuyers ended up with noticeably smaller apartments in 2025, as real estate developers trimmed carpet areas to offset rising land and construction costs while keeping overall ticket sizes attractive for price-sensitive buyers, a report has said.
According to data from NoBroker, the city’s average apartment size declined by about 8%, falling from 1,094 sq ft in 2024 to 1,008 sq ft in 2025, one of the sharpest contractions among major Indian metros.
Real estate experts note that buyers are effectively paying more for less space. With construction costs per sq ft continuing to rise, developers are increasingly optimising layouts and recalibrating configurations to ensure homes remain affordable within prevailing price brackets.
Saurabh Garg, Chief Business Officer of NoBroker, said the trend is particularly pronounced in mid-segment categories. “The carpet area shrinkage in 2-BHK units is 9 per cent and in 3-BHKs about 5 per cent in Bengaluru,” he said, adding that developers are recalibrating configurations to maintain attractive ticket sizes for price-sensitive buyers. This densification model, he noted, helps builders retain profitability while matching prevailing demand patterns in a market where entry-level affordability has become a key constraint.
Carpet area is the actual usable area within the walls of an apartment or house where you can lay a carpet, essentially, the space you can actually live in. It excludes the thickness of internal walls, balconies, common areas, staircases, and lobbies.
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A nationwide pattern, but Bengaluru sees the steepest drop
While the trend is most visible in Bengaluru, other major cities are witnessing similar contractions. Pune saw a 5 per cent reduction in average unit size (from 910 sq ft to 869 sq ft), followed by Chennai at 5 per cent (894 sq ft to 849 sq ft). MMR and Hyderabad recorded 4 per cent declines, while NCR saw the mildest change at 3 per cent, according to data from NoBroker.
According to Garg, some grade-A developers continue to offer larger-format homes, typically starting from the ₹2.5–3 crore segment, but this is not reflective of the broader market. “Across most mid-range projects, we are seeing noticeable reduction in sizes as developers adjust to rising input costs and changing demand patterns,” he said.
What shrinking sizes mean for homebuyers
Apartment sizes in Bengaluru have steadily reduced as developers adjust to new setback rules revised by the state government in 2025, rising construction costs, and shrinking profit margins.
Last year, the Karnataka government amended the setback norms under the Revised Master Plan (RMP) 2015, effective from August 1, 2025. Under the revised rules, buildings on plots of up to 4,000 sq. m must maintain a minimum clearance of at least 1.5 metres at the front and 1 metre each on the sides and rear. For larger plots, the minimum is 5 metres on all sides. Buildings with 12–15 floors but no stilt floor must have a 5-metre setback, with higher requirements for taller structures.
Real estate experts say builders can no longer design projects the way they did a decade ago. For instance, a 3BHK apartment at a Grade A development in north Bengaluru is now approximately 1,200 sq ft, whereas similar 3BHK layouts were closer to 1,500 sq ft in 2024, brokers noted.
According to Kiran Kumar of Hanu Reddy Realty, the shift is majorly tied to a significant rise in land prices. “Earlier, construction cost was higher than land cost. Today, land costs have far exceeded construction costs. Over the last 10 years, Bengaluru has seen apartment sizes decline by more than 25 per cent across several segments,” he said.
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Kumar suggested that buyers should become more attentive to UDS (undivided share of land), which has also decreased in many projects. “As a result, homebuyers looking to buy new apartments should also scrutinise both carpet area and UDS more closely, as the two have a direct impact on long-term value, resale prospects, and overall asset quality,” he said.
UDS stands for the portion of the land on which an apartment building is constructed that legally belongs to an individual flat owner.
Real estate experts caution that while compact units help first-time buyers enter the market, inadequate planning could lead to long-term concerns about liveability. Kumar emphasised that consumers need to focus on smart layouts, usable balconies, storage solutions, and access to community spaces, features that can significantly improve comfort in smaller homes.
