Land in Punjab is bought and sold in marla and kanal, but listings, registry papers and bank documents mix them with square feet, gaz and acres — and to make things worse, a marla in a housing society is not always the same size as a marla in the revenue record. If you are buying a plot or house in 2026, here is every conversion you need, plus the traps that catch first-time buyers.
The Official Punjab Units
Punjab's revenue standard is built on the sarsai: 1 sarsai = 30.25 square feet, and 1 marla = 9 sarsai = 272.25 square feet, which is 30.25 gaz (square yards). Twenty marla make 1 kanal = 5,445 square feet, and 8 kanal make 1 acre (killa) = 43,560 square feet. A hectare, which appears on some scheme documents, is roughly 19.77 kanal. So a 5 marla plot on the official standard is 1,361.25 square feet, and a 10 marla plot is 2,722.5 square feet.
The Society Marla: 225 Square Feet
Many private housing societies market plots on a shorter marla of 225 square feet — exactly 25 gaz. Under that standard, a society kanal is 4,500 square feet instead of 5,445. The difference is real money: a '5 marla' society plot covers 1,125 square feet, about 17% less land than an official 5 marla. Neither standard is illegal — society plots are planned and priced under their own scheme — but you must know which marla a seller means before comparing rates per marla. Converting everything to square feet is the only fair comparison.
Worked Conversions You Will Actually Use
Keep these four anchors in your head and every other figure follows. One kanal equals 20 marla or 180 sarsai — and also 605 gaz. A society 7 marla plot is 1,575 square feet, while an official 7 marla is 1,905.75 square feet. An acre of farmland near Chunian is 8 kanal, so if a seller quotes 4 kanal for a chunk of agricultural land, you are looking at half an acre. Whenever a listing quotes only one unit, run it through a converter before you compare it with the plot next door — a rate per marla means very different things on the two standards.
Registry Size vs Possession Size
The area written on the registry or fard (record of rights) is the recorded size, while the area you physically demarcate at the site — the possession size — can differ because of surveying errors, corner cuts or society rounding. Before paying, get the plot measured on the ground and reconcile it with the revenue record. A mismatch of even one or two marla on a 1 kanal deal changes the price by lakhs, and disputes after possession are far harder to fix than a ten-minute measurement before it.
A Quick Buyer's Checklist
Verify the fard and the seller's title, measure the plot at the site, and convert every figure into one unit — square feet — before comparing rates. Check which marla standard the society uses, confirm the plot number on the map, and budget beyond the plot price: transfer fees, development charges and utility connections add up quickly. If you plan to finance the purchase, check what monthly instalment your income actually supports with a loan affordability calculator before you fall in love with a plot — banks typically cap total monthly loan payments near half of your net income, so a realistic budget beats an optimistic one. For instant conversions in any direction — sarsai to marla, gaz to square feet, kanal to acres — use the free marla to kanal converter, which supports both the 272.25 and 225 square-foot standards with one tap.
Conclusion
Marla and kanal are simple once you anchor everything to square feet and always ask which standard applies. DigitalKasur builds property and business websites across Kasur District along with the free calculators that keep buyers informed — the same care we put into client projects goes into every tool we publish.
