Marla to Square Feet Converter

How to use the marla converter

Type the area, choose its unit, and pick how many square feet make one marla in your area. The tool shows the same area in marla, kanal, square feet, square yards (gaz), square metres, acres and sarsai at once. Everything runs in your browser, so the result changes as you type.

Why does the size of a marla change?

A marla is an old unit of land from the revenue system of the subcontinent. It has never had one fixed size across Pakistan. In the official revenue (patwari) record, one marla is 272.25 square feet, because one acre (43,560 sq ft) is divided into 160 marla. Most housing societies, however, use a rounded figure. In Lahore, DHA and Bahria Town, one marla is usually taken as 225 square feet, and a few societies use 250 square feet.

This difference is large. A "10 marla" house is 2,250 sq ft at 225 but 2,722.5 sq ft at 272.25 — almost 500 square feet more. Before you buy, sell or build, always ask which marla the seller, the society or the development authority is using, and check the size in square feet on the allotment letter or the transfer papers.

Land units used in Pakistan

• Marla — the basic unit. 225, 250 or 272.25 sq ft depending on the area.
• Kanal — 20 marla. So 1 kanal is 4,500 sq ft (225 marla) or 5,445 sq ft (272.25 marla).
• Square yard (gaz) — 9 square feet. Karachi plots are usually sold in square yards, for example 120, 240 or 500 yards.
• Square foot — the most exact unit. Covered area of a house is normally told in square feet.
• Square metre — about 10.764 sq ft. Used in some official documents and by engineers.
• Acre — 43,560 sq ft, which is 8 kanal or 160 marla in the revenue record. Farm land is sold in acres.
• Sarsai — one ninth of a marla. It still appears in old land records in Punjab.

Examples

How many square feet are in 5 marla?

At 225 sq ft per marla, 5 marla is 1,125 sq ft (125 square yards). At 272.25 sq ft per marla, it is 1,361.25 sq ft (about 151 square yards).

How many marla are in 1 kanal?

Always 20 marla. The square feet change with the marla size: 4,500 sq ft at 225, 5,000 sq ft at 250 and 5,445 sq ft at 272.25.

How many marla is a 120 square yard plot?

120 yards is 1,080 sq ft. That is 4.8 marla at 225 sq ft, or just under 4 marla at 272.25 sq ft.

Tips before you buy a plot

• Ask for the size in square feet, not only in marla.
• Check the society's approved map and the measurement standard it follows.
• For a house, the plot size and the covered area are different. A 5 marla plot can have a much bigger covered area if it has two or three floors.
• Work with a registered property dealer and verify documents with the development authority or the land record office.

This tool gives estimates for general information. For a sale, purchase or legal matter, rely on the official land record and the measurement on your documents.