The 120 square yard plot (1,080 sq ft, roughly 5 marla) is the single most-built house size in Karachi, the point at which a plot stops forcing painful trade-offs and starts allowing a genuinely comfortable family home. Where an 80 square yard plot makes you choose between a car and a room, a 120 lets you have both, plus a small lawn and a three-bedroom layout that actually works. These plots are everywhere: PECHS, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Johar, North Nazimabad, Malir, and the newer schemes.
This guide is part of our house construction by plot size in Karachi cluster. It covers what fits on a 120, the design realities, and the real 2026 cost.
The 120 square yard plot is where the Karachi family home comes into its own, comfortable without being expensive to build or run.
120 Square Yards Is "5 Marla", Clearing Up the Units
In finance ads and Punjab-style listings you will see this plot called "5 marla." For practical purposes, 120 square yards ≈ 5 marla (the strict conversion is 125 sq yards to 5 marla, so a 120 is a whisker under). If you are comparing a Karachi 120-gaz plot with a Lahore "5 marla" plot, treat them as the same class of home. This matters because the PM's Apna Ghar finance scheme and many bank products are written in marla, and a 120 sits comfortably inside their limits.
What Fits on a 120 Square Yard Plot
After setbacks, your usable ground footprint is roughly 900–950 sq ft, enough that the car no longer eats a usable room. A realistic ground-plus-one layout:
- Ground floor: a covered car porch, a drawing/lounge, a kitchen, a dining or family space, and a powder room, with a small lawn at the front or rear.
- First floor: three bedrooms (one master with an attached bath, two with a shared bath) and a small family lounge or landing space.
- Roof: a mumty, a servant room or store, and a utility terrace.
Three comfortable bedrooms is the natural fit. The 120 is also frequently built as a portion property, ground and upper let separately, and supports that model more comfortably than an 80 because each portion can be a complete, decent-sized home.
The Design Wins a 120 Unlocks
The extra width and depth over an 80 are not just "more area", they unlock specific things that change how the house lives:
- A proper car porch and a ground-floor room. No more either/or. The car gets a covered bay and you keep your living spaces intact.
- A small lawn. Even 8–10 feet of front or rear setback turned into planting transforms ventilation and light, and gives the house a frontage.
- A real master bedroom. On a 120 the master can take an attached bath and a wardrobe without crippling the other rooms.
- Cross-ventilation that actually works. With a little more depth, living spaces can be aligned front-to-rear so breeze flows through, though, like the 80, a 120 is usually built wall-to-wall on the sides, so a small light-well or court still earns its keep for the middle of the plan.
Constraints That Still Apply
A 120 is comfortable, not unlimited. The constraints to design around:
- Side walls are still party walls. Windows come from front and rear only. Plan a light-and-ventilation shaft or a small internal court so the middle of the plan, typically a bathroom, the stair, or the kitchen, gets light and air.
- The staircase still costs real space. Push it to a side wall and keep flights efficient. A 120 has more room to absorb a staircase than an 80, but a wasteful one still steals a bedroom's worth of area across two floors.
- The lawn-versus-room tension at the rear. Owners often want both a rear lawn and a large ground-floor family room. On a 120 you usually get a generous version of one and a modest version of the other; decide which your family values more before drawing.
Financing a 120, The Apna Ghar Fit
The 120 is the headline beneficiary of the Wazir-e-Azam Apna Ghar Program (launched April 2026): a 5% fixed markup for the first ten years, up to PKR 10 million, for new construction on a plot you already own, capped at a 10-marla house. A 120 sq yard build sits well inside that cap, and a PKR 10 million loan plus a 10% down payment covers a complete standard-specification double-storey home on this size. If you own a 120 sq yard plot and need to finance the build, this scheme is the most relevant financing development in years, see our Apna Ghar program guide for Karachi builders for eligibility and how to apply.
Regulatory Notes, SBCA Setbacks and Floors
- Setbacks: mandatory front (and sometimes rear) setbacks apply; on a 120 they are absorbable and often become the lawn rather than dead loss. Design around the post-setback footprint.
- Floors: ground-plus-one is the baseline; ground-plus-two is permitted in many zones subject to height limits and road width. A G+2 on a 120 is a common way to add a third self-contained portion for rental, confirm your entitlement against your approved plan first.
- Approval: through the SBCA for most of Karachi. Build only against an approved building plan.
120 Square Yard House Construction Cost in Karachi (2026)
A ground-plus-one build on a 120 yields roughly 1,800 sq ft of covered area. Using current 2026 rates from our house construction cost guide:
| Specification | Rate (PKR/sq ft) | Approx. Total (G+1, ~1,800 sq ft) |
|---|---|---|
| Economy | 3,800 – 5,000 | 68 lac – 90 lac |
| Standard | 5,000 – 7,500 | 90 lac – 1.35 cr |
| Premium | 8,000 – 13,000+ | 1.44 cr – 2.3 cr+ |
A ground-plus-two build (roughly 2,700 sq ft) scales these up by about 50%. For most 120 owners, standard specification is the sweet spot, quality cement and steel, tiled bathrooms, and mid-range fixtures that hold up and resell well. Grey structure alone runs about 55–60% of the standard total, so budget roughly PKR 50–80 lac for a grey-structure-first approach.
Add separately: SBCA approval, utility connections, professional fees, and a 10–15% contingency.
Where a 120 Is Won, Material Sourcing
On a standard-specification 120, materials are the largest controllable cost, and Karachi's wholesale market rewards buyers who know where to go. The same steel, tiles, wiring, and fittings carry 10–30% price swings across the city, and the savings live in the specialist markets rather than the convenient local hardware shop:
- Steel and cement at the best rates come out of Shershah and the SITE industrial belt, not the neighbourhood supplier.
- Tiles and sanitaryware swing widely between Jodia Bazaar (wholesale) and Tariq Road (retail) for identical product.
- Electrical and wiring is keenest at Bolton Market; plumbing at Jodia Bazaar and Landhi.
On a 120 those margins compound across the whole bill of materials into real money, often a meaningful slice of a standard build's total. This is exactly where five decades of supplier relationships turn into a lower price for the owner rather than a wider margin for the contractor: buying at genuine commercial rates, in the right market, is half the battle on a build this size.
Build Timeline
A standard ground-plus-one 120 sq yard house runs roughly 7–10 months from foundation to handover; a ground-plus-two adds 2–3 months. Allow 6–10 weeks beforehand for SBCA approval, and build a 15–20 day buffer per phase for the Friday stoppages, Eid shutdowns, and monsoon gaps that every Karachi build absorbs.
Frequently Asked Questions, 120 Square Yard House in Karachi
How much does it cost to build a 120 square yard house in Karachi in 2026? A ground-plus-one 120 sq yard house (about 1,800 sq ft covered) costs roughly PKR 68–90 lac at economy specification and PKR 90 lac–1.35 crore at standard, excluding land, approvals, and professional fees. A ground-plus-two build adds about 50% to those figures.
Is 120 square yards the same as 5 marla? Effectively yes. 120 square yards is just under 5 marla (5 marla is 125 sq yards), so for planning, financing, and comparison purposes they are the same class of plot. Karachi listings use square yards; finance products and Punjab listings use marla.
How many bedrooms fit on a 120 square yard house? Three comfortable bedrooms on a ground-plus-one build, typically a master with an attached bath upstairs plus two more, or one downstairs and two up. A ground-plus-two build can add a fourth bedroom or a self-contained rental portion.
Can I get Apna Ghar financing for a 120 square yard house? Yes. A 120 sq yard build sits well within the scheme's 10-marla cap, and the PKR 10 million maximum loan (at 5% markup for the first ten years) plus a 10% down payment covers a complete standard-spec double-storey home on this size. It funds new construction on a plot you already own.
Can I build a car porch and still keep a lawn on a 120? Yes, this is exactly the threshold a 120 crosses that an 80 does not. You can have a covered car porch, intact ground-floor living spaces, and a small front or rear lawn. The remaining tension is usually between a larger rear lawn and a larger ground-floor family room; decide which your household values more before finalising the design.
Build Your 120 Square Yard Home With Naffees & Sons
The 120 is the Karachi family home we have built more of than any other size since 1972, across PECHS, Gulshan, North Nazimabad, and Johar. We will design it to fit your family, finish it to a spec that lasts, and price it honestly with an itemised Bill of Quantities.
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