When buying an apartment, the future owner often sees several different area figures in the documents and listings. Most commonly, these are the total area of the apartment and the living area, but they are two different numbers. They affect not only comfort but also the price of the property, taxes, technical documents, renovation planning, and day-to-day living. That’s why, before buying real estate, it’s important to understand exactly what each figure includes and how to read the data in the documents correctly.
What is the Total Area of an Apartment?
The total area of an apartment is the number that reflects the combined area of all the apartment’s spaces as recorded in the technical documentation. It includes not only the rooms where a person actually lives but also the auxiliary spaces: the kitchen, hallway, toilet, bathroom, storage room, dressing room, entrance area, and other parts of the apartment that belong to the owner.
Knowing the total area helps you understand the full size of the property, not just the area of the living rooms. This is the figure most often stated in the technical passport, title documents, sale listings, and contracts. It’s the reference point when setting a property’s price, appraising real estate, calculating tax, and comparing different options against one another.
What’s included in the total area especially matters for a buyer. For example, two apartments can have the same total area but feel completely different. One will have a large kitchen, a spacious living room, and very little hallway space. The other will have a long entrance corridor, small rooms, and a lot of technical square meters that are hard to put to good use. That’s why you need to look not just at the figure in the documents but also at the layout.
Future owners also want to know whether the balcony is included in the total area of an apartment. Balconies, loggias, and terraces may be listed in the technical documents, but they are usually counted not as their full actual area but with a reduction coefficient. For example, a balcony of 4 m² may add less than the full four “squares” to the recorded area. That’s why, when buying, it’s important to check the technical passport and see exactly how the developer or owner records these meters.
What is the Living Area of an Apartment?
The living area is the part of the apartment intended specifically for living. It comprises the rooms: the bedroom, living room, children’s room, study, or any other space that is classified as living space in the documents. Based on this information, you can understand how much space in the apartment will be used for sleeping, resting, working, and so on.
To put it briefly, the living area is not the whole apartment but only its rooms. The kitchen, hallway, bathroom, toilet, dressing room, storage room, balcony, or loggia are not part of the living area. Of course, they matter for comfort, but in the documents they are counted separately.
Because of this, an apartment with a large total area doesn’t always have a lot of living space. For example, some of the square meters may be taken up by a wide hallway, a large kitchen, several bathrooms, or technical rooms. For a buyer, this is neither good nor bad in itself. What matters is whether the ratio of living space to auxiliary space matches the real needs of a family with children, a person who works from home, or an investor planning to rent the apartment out.
To make it easier to get your bearings, here is a comparison table:
|
Criterion |
Total area |
Living area |
|---|---|---|
|
What the figure means |
The full size of the apartment, including both living and auxiliary spaces |
The area of the rooms intended specifically for living |
|
What it includes |
Rooms, kitchen, hallway, bathroom, toilet, dressing room, storage room, and other spaces belonging to the property |
Bedrooms, living room, children’s room, study |
|
What it excludes |
Shared spaces of the building: entrance hall, stairs, common corridor, elevator area |
Kitchen, toilet, bathroom, hallway, storage room, dressing room, balcony, loggia |
|
Where it is used |
In the technical passport, contracts, listings, valuations, and tax calculations |
For understanding the actual living space and planning how the rooms will be used |
|
Effect on price |
Often the basis for calculating the apartment’s price per square meter |
Helps assess how comfortable the property is to live in |
|
Effect on taxation |
Property tax is based specifically on the total area of the property |
Not used as a basis for calculating taxes |
|
Practical value for the buyer |
Shows the legal and technical size of the property |
Shows how much space the rooms actually account for |
What do These Figures Affect in Practice?
The difference between total and living area matters not only for the documents. It affects how a buyer evaluates an apartment, how much usable space they actually get, and whether the price matches the layout. For example, a 70 m² apartment can be comfortable for a family if most of the area goes to rooms, the kitchen, and storage zones. But that same area can be less practical if a lot of space is taken up by corridors or awkward passageways.
When buying, it’s worth comparing not just the total floor space but also the balance between rooms, kitchen, bathrooms, entrance area, and additional spaces. This helps you understand whether the apartment will be comfortable specifically for you, because for one person a spacious kitchen–living room may matter more, for a family separate bedrooms, and for an investor a layout that will appeal to renters.
A separate practical question is which area is taxed: living or total. For property tax, it’s the total area of the apartment that’s taken into account, not just the rooms. That’s why it’s important for the owner to check the figures in the documents, since they affect tax obligations if the apartment’s area exceeds the preferential threshold set by law.
These figures also affect renovation in different ways. The total area helps make a preliminary estimate of the scope of work and the amount of materials needed, while the living area shows how comfortable the rooms will be to use after the renovation. That’s precisely why, before buying, it’s better to look not just at the figure in the listing but also at the apartment’s floor plan, the dimensions of each room, and the ability to fit the furniture you need.
One more nuance is living-area standards. In everyday life, this term is often used when talking about living comfort, registration, social matters, or housing programs. But for an ordinary apartment purchase, what matters more than a formally “correct” number of meters is the real convenience of the layout: whether there are enough rooms, whether there are no wasted zones, and whether the space can be adapted to the owner’s needs.
So total area and living area shouldn’t be treated as interchangeable figures. When a buyer understands the difference between them, it’s easier to grasp the real value of a property, compare several options, and avoid overpaying.
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