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Marla to Square Feet and Kanal Conversion Guide for Pakistan

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Published by Dekuz · Last updated October 2026

Land in Pakistan is bought and sold in marla and kanal, but house designs, construction costs and property portals use square feet, square yards and sometimes square metres. Anyone who has compared two plot advertisements knows the confusion: one says 5 marla and the other says 1,125 square feet, and a third says 1,361 square feet for what seems to be the same size. Both numbers are correct, because the marla is not defined in the same way everywhere. This guide explains the units, shows the exact conversion tables, and gives you a method to avoid paying for land you do not receive.

You will learn what a marla, a kanal, a gaz and an acre are, why two values of the marla are in use, how to convert between square feet, square yards and square metres, how to work out a plot price correctly, and which documents to check before you pay. You can test any figure with the Land Area Converter (Pakistan) while you read.

The units: marla, kanal, gaz and acre

The marla and the kanal are traditional land units of Punjab and the surrounding regions, and they are still used in revenue records, in the property market and in private housing schemes across Pakistan. The relationship between them is fixed: one kanal equals 20 marla. Another traditional unit is the gaz, which means a yard, and a square gaz is the same as a square yard, which is 9 square feet. The acre is an older English unit that is still used for larger parcels and farmland, and one acre is exactly 43,560 square feet. In the old Punjab system, one acre equals 8 kanal.

Smaller areas of land are often described as a number of marla, for example 3, 5, 7 or 10 marla for a house plot, and 1 or 2 kanal for a larger home. Commercial plots may be quoted in square feet or square yards. When someone gives you a size, the first thing to ask is: which marla do you mean, and is this plot area or covered area?

Why are there two sizes of the marla?

The traditional value of the marla in the revenue records of Punjab is 272.25 square feet, which equals 30.25 square yards. It comes from the old measurement in which a marla is a square of 3 karam by 3 karam, and since one karam is 5.5 feet, that is a square of 16.5 feet by 16.5 feet. Under this definition a kanal is 20 times 272.25, which is 5,445 square feet.

Many private housing societies and developers, however, use a simpler value in which one marla is 225 square feet, that is 25 square yards, and one kanal is 4,500 square feet. This makes plan drawings and pricing easier because a 5 marla plot is a neat 1,125 square feet, and a 10 marla plot is 2,250 square feet. The Dekuz land converter uses 225 square feet per marla and 4,500 per kanal, and the tool page explains that older revenue records may use 272.25. Neither system is a mistake. What matters is that the buyer and the seller are talking about the same one, and that it is written in the agreement.

Conversion tables you can rely on

The table below shows the main values for the two definitions of the marla. The values in square metres use the exact relationship that one square foot is 0.09290304 square metres.

Unit Revenue marla (272.25 sq ft) Society marla (225 sq ft)
1 marla in sq ft 272.25 225
1 marla in sq yards 30.25 25
1 marla in sq metres 25.29 20.90
1 kanal in sq ft 5,445 4,500
1 kanal in sq yards 605 500
1 kanal in sq metres 505.86 418.06
5 marla in sq ft 1,361.25 1,125
10 marla in sq ft 2,722.50 2,250

Other useful fixed values are that one acre is 43,560 square feet or 4,046.86 square metres, one hectare is 10,000 square metres or about 107,639 square feet, and one square yard is 9 square feet. Under the revenue definition one acre is exactly 160 marla, and with the society definition of 225 square feet an acre is about 193.6 marla, which is one reason why acre conversions in societies are rarely used.

Worked example: how big is the difference?

Suppose that you see an advertisement for a 5 marla plot. If the seller means the revenue marla, the plot is 5 times 272.25, which is 1,361.25 square feet. If the seller means the society marla, the plot is 5 times 225, which is 1,125 square feet. The difference is 236.25 square feet. That is about 17 percent less land than the first figure, or put the other way, the larger plot is 21 percent bigger than the smaller one.

Now add a price. As an illustration, assume the rate is 5,000 per square foot, which is a made-up number to show the method. The price of 1,361.25 square feet is 6,806,250, and the price of 1,125 square feet is 5,625,000. The gap is 1,181,250. If you thought you were buying the larger plot at the lower price, you would be overpaying by more than a million. The same pattern applies to one kanal: 5,445 against 4,500 square feet, a difference of 945 square feet. A one minute check of the definition protects you from a mistake of this size.

How to calculate a plot price step by step

  1. Get the area in square feet. Multiply the number of marla by the square feet in one marla of the definition that is written in the documents.
  2. Check the dimensions. Multiply the length by the width in feet. A plot of 25 by 50 feet is 1,250 square feet, which is not exactly 5 marla under either definition, so the advertised size may be rounded.
  3. Compute the price. Multiply the area by the price per square foot. If the price is quoted per marla, divide it by the marla size to compare with other plots.
  4. Add costs. Registry, stamp duty, transfer fees, society charges and development charges can add a noticeable percentage. Use the Percentage Calculator to turn each percentage into an amount.
  5. Compare plots by price per square foot, not by marla. This removes the effect of different marla definitions.

If you plan to finance the purchase or the construction, use the Mortgage Calculator to see the monthly payment before you commit.

Plot area, covered area and built-up area

Another source of confusion is the difference between the area of the plot and the area of the building. The plot area is the land that you own. The covered area is the footprint of the building on that land, and the built-up area is the total floor area of all floors. A 5 marla plot of 1,125 square feet with a house that covers 900 square feet on the ground and has two floors has a covered area of 900 and a built-up area of about 1,800 square feet. Builders usually charge construction by the covered or built-up area, so always check which one is in the contract.

Local building rules also limit how much of the plot you can build on, how much space you must leave at the front and sides, and how many floors are allowed. Those rules differ between cities and societies, so confirm them with the local authority or the society office before you buy or design.

Documents to check before you pay

An area on a brochure or a message is only a claim. Before you pay a token amount or sign an agreement, check the following with the help of a trusted lawyer or property professional.

  • The ownership document, such as the registered sale deed, the revenue record or the society allotment letter, and whether the plot is in the seller’s name.
  • The area stated in the document, the unit used, and whether the marla definition is written out.
  • The approved map or site plan, with the dimensions of each side.
  • Whether the plot is on the ground in the place that the papers describe, by visiting it and asking a surveyor to measure it if the price is large.
  • Any outstanding dues, such as development charges, taxes or utility connection fees.
  • The exact area written in the agreement to sell, in square feet and in marla, with the marla definition that you have agreed.

Never rely on a verbal statement of size for a transaction of this value, and keep copies of every document.

Common mistakes

The most frequent mistake is to use the wrong marla definition, as the example above showed. A second is to compare prices per marla across societies without checking the marla size. A third is to convert square feet to square yards by dividing by 3 instead of 9, which gives a result three times too large. A fourth is to treat a kanal as 10 marla because of the decimal habit, when it is 20. A fifth is to confuse a plot of 5 marla with a house of 5 marla, forgetting that the covered area may be smaller or larger. A sixth is to use a square foot factor for lengths, for example to convert a width in feet to metres, which needs the length factor of 0.3048 and not the area factor. The Length Converter and the Area Converter help you avoid these errors.

Frequently asked questions

How many square feet are in 1 marla?

It depends on the definition. In revenue records one marla is 272.25 square feet. Many housing societies use 225 square feet. Check which one your documents use.

How many marla are in 1 kanal?

There are 20 marla in one kanal under both definitions.

How many square feet are in 1 kanal?

One kanal is 5,445 square feet under the 272.25 marla and 4,500 square feet under the 225 marla.

How many square yards are in 1 marla?

One marla is 30.25 square yards under the revenue definition and 25 square yards under the society definition.

How many marla are in 1 acre?

Under the revenue definition one acre is 160 marla or 8 kanal. With the 225 square feet marla, an acre is about 193.6 marla.

What is a gaz?

A gaz is a traditional yard, so a square gaz is the same as a square yard, which is 9 square feet.

How can I convert marla to square metres?

Multiply the number of marla by the square feet in one marla, and then multiply by 0.09290304. One 225 square foot marla is about 20.90 square metres.

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This guide is for general information and education. Figures in examples are illustrations, not current prices or advice. Please read our Disclaimer, and confirm important decisions with a qualified professional or an official source.