Plot Size Conversion in Pakistan

Being a developing country, Pakistan is still stretching its feet in the real estate sector. The housing accommodation developers are spread across the country, but there is an issue with this. The country is divided into 5 provinces, where the measuring units for land area are different. Punjab uses the marla and kanal units to measure land areas, however, different units are used in the province of Sindh — square meters and square yards. The understanding of these conversion units is not that common, as not all developers and builders have spread their construction activities across the country. Owing to this sole reason, we have tried to help you understand the difference between these plot size conversions.

Case Study: Hypothetical saying, if you have a 1 Kanal plot for sale in Lahore but you wish to acquire a similar sized plot in Karachi. The conversion of units, in this case, will be from kanal to square yards, as the most used unit for measuring land area is square yards and square feet. So, this case study brings about the conversion of kanal to square yards or kanal to square feet. 

Let us take ‘Marla’ as the base unit for measuring land areas. We are going to use this unit and help you better understand the plot sizes conversions. Moreover, Marla and Kanal are the most understood conversion units in plots and houses all across the province of Punjab. 

It is pertinent to mention here that Marla is the traditional unit of measurement for plot sizes,  which is currently applicable in countries like Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. Moreover, Marla became the default unit of measurement since the british era. However, the conversion of marla into square foot varies in Pakistan, with one stating that one marla is equivalent to 272.25 sq ft, while the other states it as equivalent to 250 sq ft. The first is conversion rate is used as standard unit for the measurement of revenue records, meanwhile the second is usually used by developing authorities and some private housing schemes.

Let us first list down all the units, currently in use, for plot size conversions. Following are the most used units in measuring land area — and similarly for plot size conversions:

• Marla
• Kanal
• Square metre
• Square yards
• Square feet
• Acre
• Hectare

For converting marla to square meter, use the following table:

For converting marla to square yards, use the following table:

To understand the conversion of marla to square feet, use the following table: