The standard definitions
One marla is 272.25 square feet, which is 30.25 square yards. Twenty marla make one kanal, so a kanal is 5,445 square feet. Eight kanal make an acre, which is 43,560 square feet.
Above that, twenty-five acres make a murabba, the unit used in canal-irrigated agricultural land records in Punjab.
The 225 square foot habit
Many listings quietly treat a marla as 225 square feet, a convention from older housing schemes. On a 10-marla plot that assumption understates the area by more than 470 square feet.
Always ask which definition a price per marla uses, then convert to square feet yourself and compare on that basis. Square feet is the only unit that never changes meaning.
Regional variation is real
Historical revenue records in different regions used slightly different marla and kanal values, and some older documents still reflect them. Sindh land records also use ghunta and other units alongside acres.
For any transaction, the figure in the registered document governs, not the figure in the advertisement. If they differ, resolve it before payment.
Checking a plot in practice
Take the frontage and depth in feet from the site plan, multiply for square feet, then divide by 272.25 for marla. If that does not match the advertised size, ask why before discussing price.
For built property, separate land area from covered area. A 5-marla house with three floors has roughly triple the covered area, and construction quality — not land size — drives most of the price difference between similar plots.