Convert acres to Marla

Why the marla, and not the square foot, sets the price

Land in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Chandigarh and Jammu is sold in whole marla counts: 3, 5, 7, 10 marla, then in kanal. Because every scheme lays out plots on the same fraction of an acre, a per-marla rate is a directly comparable price signal between neighbourhoods in a way a per-square-foot rate would be less legible to local buyers.

That standardisation is inherited rather than designed. The marla was fixed during colonial settlement as one one-hundred-and-sixtieth of an acre, which is exactly 272.25 square feet or about 25.29 square metres. Every derived figure in the market rests on that fraction.

The 225 square foot marla

Older municipal and private records in parts of Punjab use a marla of 25 square yards — 225 square feet. The two definitions differ by 21 per cent, which on a 10-marla plot is roughly 472 square feet of land: enough to change what can legally be built on it.

Advertisements rarely state which convention they use. The reliable check is the stated plot dimensions: 20 by 45 feet is a 900 sq ft plot and therefore about 3.3 marla under the larger definition and 4 marla under the smaller. When dimensions are absent, ask for the approved site plan before agreeing a per-marla price.

Covered area is a different number

A "5 marla house" describes the plot, not the building. Covered area depends on the permitted ground coverage and the number of storeys, and is quoted separately in square feet. Buyers comparing a 5-marla double-storey against a 7-marla single-storey are comparing two different quantities if they only look at the marla count.

Bank valuations generally state land area in marla and covered area in square feet on the same page. Converting the marla figure to square feet makes the two directly comparable and exposes the ground-coverage ratio the valuation is assuming.

Working with sub-units

The sarsahi is one-ninth of a marla — 9 square feet under the 272.25 convention — and appears in revenue records for boundary strips, easements and residual slivers after partition. It is small enough that transcription errors in it rarely matter financially, but large enough that a systematic misreading across a subdivided holding does.

For any document that will be registered, restate the marla figure in square metres. Registration and stamp duty in both India and Pakistan operate on metric areas, so the metric figure is the one that binds.

When comparing listings across cities, remember that the per-marla rate embeds location, scheme approval status and infrastructure provision, not just land. A file for an unbuilt plot in a scheme awaiting approval and a possession-ready plot in a completed sector may be quoted at similar per-marla rates while representing very different assets. The unit makes the areas comparable; it does nothing to make the prices comparable, and treating a per-marla figure as though it were a commodity price is the most expensive mistake in this market.

Finally, note that marla counts in advertisements are frequently nominal rather than surveyed. A plot marketed as five marla may measure marginally more or less once the boundary pillars are located, and the registered area, not the advertised one, is what transfers. Requesting the demarcation certificate before payment costs nothing and settles the question against the record rather than against the brochure.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Confirm which marla the price uses: 272.25 sq ft or 225 sq ft. The difference is 21 per cent.
• Marla counts describe plot area only; covered area is a separate figure.
• Registered and taxed areas are metric — convert before filing, not after.