Land Area Converter (Marla, Kanal, Square Feet)

What are marla and kanal?

Marla and kanal are the land-area units that run Pakistan's (and much of north India's) property market. A house is "5 marla" or "10 marla"; a farmhouse is "2 kanal". They are British-era standardisations of older local measures, and though every registry ultimately records area in square feet, the everyday language of buying, selling and describing land is marla and kanal. Being fluent in the conversions — and knowing where they vary by region — is basic financial literacy here.

How to use this converter

Type a value, pick its unit, and the equivalent area appears instantly in every other unit at once — no button to press. Because the result panel shows all units together, you can read a "7 marla" plot as square feet, square yards (gaz) and square metres in a single glance, which is exactly what you need when one listing quotes marla and another quotes square feet.

The standard values

Every unit is converted through square metres internally, so the chain stays exact with no rounding drift. The square yard here is the gaz (also written gaj) used across South Asia — 9 square feet.

Worked example

You are comparing two plots. One is listed as 7 marla, the other as 2,000 sq ft. Convert the first: 7 × 272.25 = 1,905.75 sq ft (about 177 m², or 211.75 gaz). So the 2,000 sq ft plot is actually the larger of the two, by roughly 94 sq ft — not obvious until both are in the same unit. At PKR 350,000 per marla, the 7-marla plot works out to about PKR 1,286 per square foot, letting you compare price-per-square-foot against the other listing directly.

The regional variation you must check

The single most expensive mistake in Pakistani land is assuming every marla is 272.25 sq ft. In parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and various older or rural settlements, the customary marla is 225 sq ft — a 17% difference that turns a "10 marla" plot from 2,722 sq ft into 2,250. Housing societies sometimes use their own figure (250 sq ft is common internally) too. This converter uses the standard 272.25, so for any real transaction, treat marla counts as shorthand and verify the exact square-foot area written on the registry (intiqal) or society allotment documents. The units are shared language; the documents are the contract.

When is this useful?

Comparing property listings that mix units, checking a dealer's "per marla" price against a "per square foot" quote, understanding covered area versus land area on a built house, calculating boundary-wall or flooring materials, and cross-checking plot dimensions (multiply length × width in feet, then divide by 272.25 for marla). Pair it with the lakh–crore converter when the price is quoted in crore, and the general unit converter for everything beyond land.