A project we looked at recently is marketed as “low-density living”. Around 1,200 homes on 14 acres is about 86 homes an acre, which is dense by any Bengaluru standard. Nobody lied — it is just that the adjective was never checked against the numbers printed beside it. Here are seven claims you can test in under a minute each.
Key takeaways
- Low density → divide homes by acres. Under 50 is low. Over 80 is not.
- Open space percentage → ask for landscaped area separately.
- Spacious → compare carpet area, never super built-up.
- Minutes from → drive it at the hour you would actually travel.
- 250+ amenities → divide club area by number of homes.
The example: Century Tisora — marketed as low-density, at roughly 80 to 86 homes an acre on reported figures. We worked it through on the listing page.
Why adjectives survive unchecked
Property marketing puts adjectives and numbers on the same page, and buyers read the adjectives.
That is not stupidity. The adjective is in large type at the top and the numbers are in small type further down, sometimes on another page entirely. The layout is doing exactly what it is designed to do.
What makes real estate unusual is that most of these claims are arithmetically testable from figures the developer itself has published. You do not need an expert, a survey or a site visit. You need a calculator and two numbers.
The habit worth building is simple: every time you read an adjective, look for the numbers that would prove it, and do the division.
Half the time the claim holds up and you can stop worrying about it. The other half you have learned something material about the project in thirty seconds.
The seven checks
Here they are in one table. Each takes under a minute once you have the inputs.
| Claim | The check | What passes |
|---|---|---|
| “Low density” | Homes ÷ acres | Under 50 an acre |
| “84% open space” | Ask landscaped area separately | The lower figure is the real one |
| “Spacious homes” | Compare RERA carpet area | Carpet, never super built-up |
| “Minutes from the airport” | Drive it at your hour | Your own stopwatch |
| “250+ amenities” | Club area ÷ homes | Square feet per household |
| “Ample parking” | Spaces ÷ homes | 1.0 or better, plus visitor spaces |
| “RERA approved” | Ask for the number | A string you can search |
Notice what these have in common. None of them requires you to doubt anyone’s honesty. They are all just the second half of a sentence the brochure started.
The three that catch people most often
Density. This is the one where the gap between the claim and the number is widest and most common, because “low density” has no definition and sounds like a fact. Do the division and you will find projects at 80 and 120 an acre described the same way as projects at 40.
Super built-up versus carpet. Two apartments advertised at the same square footage can differ substantially in usable space, depending on how loading was applied. The RERA filing discloses carpet area precisely so this comparison is possible. Use it.
Amenity counts. A list of 250 items sounds overwhelming and tells you nothing, because the list counts a bench and a swimming pool as one item each. Club area per household is the number that means something, and almost nobody publishes it, which is itself informative.
Across all three, the pattern is the same: the impressive-sounding figure is a count or a label, and the useful figure is a ratio.
Our detailed guides cover the first two: Lodha Beaumont Estate price breakdown and what open space percentage actually counts.
The parking check nobody does
This one deserves its own section because it is the claim that will annoy you daily if it fails, and it is trivially checkable.
Ask two numbers: total car parking spaces, and total homes. Divide. If the answer is below one, some households will not have a dedicated space, and the allocation will be decided by something other than fairness.
Then ask separately about visitor parking, because it is usually a small fraction and it is the first thing to be overwhelmed. In a dense project with under-provided visitor parking, the internal roads become the overflow within a year.
Also ask whether two-wheeler parking is counted in the total. Sometimes it is, which flatters the ratio considerably.
And ask what a second car space costs, if one is available. On a dense project it may not be, at any price.
This is a ten-second sum on a question that affects your life every single evening, and in our experience buyers ask about the clubhouse instead.
How to use all this without becoming insufferable
A closing note on tone, because none of this needs to be adversarial.
A good sales team will answer these questions without difficulty, and many will answer them well, because the numbers are in their own documents. Asking is normal diligence, not an accusation.
What the answers tell you is mostly about fit rather than honesty. A project at 86 homes an acre is not a bad project. It is a dense one, which is often exactly what makes an accessible price possible on a good site.
The point of checking is to know which product you are buying, so that you are not surprised by it after handover. A buyer who wanted density and got it is happy. A buyer who wanted space and read “low density” is not.
So do the sums, take the answers at face value, and then decide. The arithmetic is not there to catch anyone out — it is there so that you and the brochure are describing the same building.
One last suggestion. Write the ratios down in a single sheet across every project you are considering, with the source of each number beside it.
Two weeks later you will not remember which figure came from a filing and which from a hoarding, and that sheet is the difference between a decision you can defend and one you half-remember making.
Common questions
How do I check if a project is really low density?
Divide the total number of homes by the project land area in acres. Under 50 homes an acre is genuinely low density, 60 to 80 is the Bengaluru norm, and over 80 is dense. The term has no formal definition, so the arithmetic is the only test.
Why should I compare carpet area instead of super built-up?
Because super built-up area includes a share of common areas and the loading applied varies between projects, so two apartments advertised at the same size can differ in usable space. RERA requires carpet area to be disclosed precisely so a clean comparison is possible.
What does a count of 250 amenities actually tell you?
Very little, since a list counts a bench and a swimming pool as one item each. Ask instead for clubhouse area in square feet divided by the number of homes. That ratio is meaningful and is rarely published, which is itself informative.
How do I check parking provision in a project?
Divide total car parking spaces by total homes. Below one means some households will not have a dedicated space. Ask separately about visitor parking, whether two-wheeler spaces are counted in the total, and whether a second space is available at all.
Are marketing claims in property brochures misleading?
Usually they are imprecise rather than false. Terms like low density, spacious and ample have no definitions, so they can be applied to a wide range of realities. Most are testable against numbers the developer has already published.
Want the claims on your shortlist checked?
Send us two or three projects and we will run every one of these checks and send you the ratios side by side. It takes us an afternoon, it is free, and it usually reorders the shortlist.
Related reading
Density and ratio bands used here are our own working classification from site visits rather than an official standard. Figures above are drawn from published project information and are indicative. Where sources conflicted we have stated both positions rather than picking one. Verify any registration yourself on the Karnataka RERA portal before paying a booking amount.
