Convert ares to m² ares ↔ square metres Free Online Secure
Type a value in ares and read it in square metres at once. The factor is exact by definition, the arithmetic happens in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Nothing uploaded
Common values — Convert ares to m² (ares ↔ square metres)
| a | m² |
|---|---|
| 1 | 100 |
| 2 | 200 |
| 3 | 300 |
| 5 | 500 |
| 10 | 1000 |
| 20 | 2000 |
| 50 | 5000 |
| 100 | 10000 |
Where these units come from
Square units need no definition of their own: a square metre is a metre by a metre, and everything follows from the length. The land measures are older and stranger. The acre began as the land a yoke of oxen could plough in a day, which is why it was long and thin rather than square — one chain by one furlong, 4840 square yards. The hectare and the are came out of the French Revolution, when land had to be measured in something decimal; neither belongs to the International System, but both were kept for land because a hectare is a comfortable size to picture and a square metre is not. Since the 1959 agreement on the yard, the acre is exactly 4046.8564224 square metres, so the conversions on this page are exact rather than approximate.
Where you meet them
Square metres price flats, size carpets and decide how much paint a wall needs; square feet do the same work in the United States and in much of the property market worldwide. Hectares belong to farmland, forests and planning permissions; acres to land deeds in the English-speaking world. Square kilometres and square miles are for countries, lakes and fires. Square centimetres and square millimetres live in workshops, on datasheets and anywhere a cross-section matters.
Questions people ask
What is an are?
An are is 100 square metres, a square ten metres on each side, and 100 of them make a hectare. The name is French and the unit is rarely used today, surviving mostly in the land registers and agricultural statistics of a few countries. You will see it more often as the prefix in hectare than on its own.
How big is a square metre in practice?
A square one metre on each side. A standard interior door is about 1.8 square metres, a single bed about 2 and a small bathroom around 4. Floor space, paint coverage and property prices are usually quoted per square metre, so a rough feel for the size helps you judge whether a listed figure is generous or tight.
Is the answer exact?
Where both units are defined in terms of one another by whole numbers, yes — the page says so above the figure, and the only rounding is in how many digits are shown. Where the ratio has no finite decimal, the page shows twelve significant digits and says the relation is approximate rather than pretending otherwise.
Does anything I type leave my device?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no server to upload it to. Load the page once and it keeps working with the network switched off.
The are: a hundred square metres, and one of the smallest land units
Few people outside land offices use the are, but plot sizes in parts of central Europe, in France and in some other countries are still written in ares. One are is exactly 100 square metres, a square of ten metres by ten. To convert ares to m² you multiply by 100, so 6 ares are 600 m² and 25 ares are 2,500 m². The calculation is easy, yet it is worth checking, because the symbol a, the word are, the word area and the acre all look alike in a document. This page does the multiplication as you type, and the text below explains where the are is used, what real plots look like in it, and how not to mix it up.
Below you will find the rule with examples, short profiles of the are and the square metre, a comparison, a long list of situations where the unit appears, and the most frequent mistakes. Everything runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere.
How to convert ares to m²: multiply by 100
The rule
One are equals exactly 100 square metres. To convert ares to m², multiply the ares by 100. Three ares are 300 m², seven ares are 700 m² and fifty ares are 5,000 m². Going the other way, divide square metres by 100: 450 m² is 4.5 ares.
Worked examples
A building plot of 6.5 ares is 650 m². A garden of 12 ares is 1,200 m². A field of 85 ares is 8,500 m², and 100 ares make 10,000 m², which is one hectare. When the number of ares has decimals, the multiplication just moves the decimal point two places to the right.
The decimal trick
Because 100 is a power of ten, there is no arithmetic at all, only a shift of the decimal point. 3.25 ares become 325 m², and 0.4 ares become 40 m². That is the whole attraction of the metric system.
A quick check
The are is larger than the square metre, so the number of square metres must be bigger. If your “convert ares to m²” calculation gave you a smaller number, you moved the decimal point in the wrong direction.
The are
Hecto plus are
The are was defined in 1795 in revolutionary France as an area of 100 square metres. Its name comes from the Latin area, an open space. Its hundredfold, the hectare, is made by adding the prefix hecto, and a hectare holds exactly 100 ares. The unit is no longer part of the International System of Units, but it is still accepted for use with it.
Where it lives
You will find it in land records and real estate in France, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and some other countries, where it is written ar, ara or simply a.
The square metre
The SI unit of area
The square metre is the area of a square with sides of one metre, 10.76 square feet. It is the unit for floors, flats, offices, rooms and building footprints almost everywhere. A bedroom of 12 m² is 0.12 are.
Where you meet it
Every floor plan, every cadastral extract, every flooring shop and paint can uses square metres. Land of building size is described in them, while farmland moves to ares and hectares.
The are and the square metre compared
The are is a hundred times the square metre. That makes it a convenient unit for a garden or a building plot: a plot of 8 ares is easier to say than a plot of 800 square metres, though both mean the same. Above about 100 ares, the hectare takes over.
The two units fit perfectly, since the factor is a power of ten. The main risk is not arithmetic but notation: the symbol a is easily mistaken for a year or for another unit, so it helps to write the word out in full the first time.
Where the conversion appears
Building plots
A typical plot for a detached house in central Europe has 5 to 10 ares, 500 to 1,000 m². A village plot may have 15 or 20 ares. Advertisements list the plot in ares, while the permit for the house is in square metres, so a “convert ares to m²” calculation appears in nearly every sale.
Allotment and vegetable gardens
German allotment gardens are limited by law to 400 square metres, which is 4 ares, and the usual size is 3 ares, 300 m². Czech and Slovak gardeners speak of ares in the same way. The area for beds, a shed, a path and a lawn must all fit into that number.
Sports and public space
A football pitch of 105 by 68 metres is 71.4 ares. A basketball court of 28 by 15 metres is 4.2 ares, and an Olympic pool of 50 by 25 metres 12.5 ares. These comparisons give a sense of scale for plots in ares.
The are and the hectare
One hectare is 100 ares and 10,000 square metres. A field of 2.5 hectares is 250 ares. Farmers may use either unit depending on size, and land registers often list parcels in hectares, ares and square metres, three digits side by side: for example 1 ha 23 a 45 m², which means 12,345 m². Reading such a figure correctly means a “convert ares to m²” calculation for the middle part and a hectare conversion for the first.
Gardens: vegetables and fruit
An are of vegetable garden can feed a family if well managed, producing a few hundred kilograms of vegetables a season. A small orchard of 10 ares holds 8 to 15 trees. Seed packets are sold by the square metre or by the are, and the quantities on the label are easy to follow once you can convert ares to m².
Compost, mulch and fertiliser
Garden fertiliser doses are often given per square metre, 40 g for example, which means 4 kg for an are. A layer of mulch 5 cm deep over one are needs 5 cubic metres. These simple multiplications link small garden units to bags and loads sold at the store.
Schoolyards and playgrounds
A playground for 100 children is often planned at 5 to 10 m² each, so 5 to 10 ares in total. A schoolyard of 12 ares has room for a basketball court, a small garden and benches. Architects work in square metres, but briefs written by local councils can use ares.
Plots in the village and in the city
Village plots are typically larger, 15 to 30 ares, while city plots are 3 to 6 ares. The same house on a plot of 4 ares and one of 20 ares has very different gardens. A “convert ares to m²” calculation puts both on the same scale, which is important when you compare prices per square metre.
Price per are
Rural land is sometimes sold by the are. A price of 1,500 euros per are is 15 euros per square metre and 150,000 euros per hectare. Convert before comparing offers, because a price per are sounds small but is not. Multiply the price by 100 to get the price per hectare.
Square feet and square yards
An are is 1,076.4 square feet, 119.6 square yards or 0.0247 acre. A plot of 5 ares is 5,382 ft², and one of 10 ares is 10,764 ft². English speaking visitors will want these figures, and they are easy to produce with the factor 10.7639 for each square metre.
Symbols and confusion
In the SI the letter a stands for the year, and the are is symbolised by a only in older texts. A line such as 3 a might mean three years or three ares. The context usually decides, but in a technical document write are in full, or use square metres instead. The same goes for ha, which is never ambiguous.
Rounding
The factor 100 is exact, so there is nothing to round. If your measurement came from a map or a pacing exercise, report the answer with the same precision as the measurement. A plot paced out at about 8 ares should be reported as 800 m², not as 800.0.
Spreadsheet use
Enter ares in column A and =A2*100 in column B. For the reverse use =B2/100. If your parcels are in the three part format hectares, ares and metres, use =A2*10000+B2*100+C2 to obtain square metres, then divide by 100 for the total in ares.
Teaching with string and chalk
Give each group a rope of 40 metres and ask them to mark a square. They have an are, 100 m², with a side of 10 metres. Ask them how many such squares would make a hectare, and the answer, 100, becomes a physical thing the class can imagine.
The notation 1 ha 23 a 45 m²
In several countries the area of a parcel is written in three parts: hectares, ares and square metres. The number 3 ha 08 a 75 m² is 30,875 m², and 0 ha 04 a 20 m² is 420 m². The system is old but precise, and it allows land registers to show the area with a single glance. To convert, multiply hectares by 10,000, ares by 100, and add the metres.
Old land units in Europe
The are replaced a patchwork of local units. A French arpent, for instance, ranged from 3,400 to 5,100 square metres depending on the province, and the German Morgen from 2,500 to 3,600. The decimal are brought a common basis, which merchants and tax collectors welcomed.
Reading a land register extract
An extract from a cadastre lists the parcel number, the use of the land, the area and the owner. In countries that still use ares the area is often written like 0.08.50, meaning 8 ares and 50 square metres, which is 850 m². A careless reader may take that for 0.0850 hectares or for a very small number. The safe approach is to read the figure in three groups, convert each one to square metres with a “convert ares to m²” calculation and add them up, then check that the total matches the number printed in the plan.
Why a unit this small is still alive
The are survives for a practical reason: it matches the size of a garden or a house lot, and it needs no decimals for most plots. A family looking for a plot of land does not think in hectares, which would give 0.08, and does not always think in square metres, which gives a number with three or four digits. Ares sit in the middle: 8, 12 or 25 are short, easy to say aloud and easy to compare. That convenience explains why local agents keep using the unit, and why a quick conversion to square metres remains useful for anyone who wants to compare a plot with a house plan, a permit or a foreign listing.
Polish, Czech and Slovak real estate
In Poland, building plots are often advertised in ares, with 10 ares equal to 1,000 m². In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, a small plot is described in ares, while larger fields are in hectares. A foreign buyer who sees 12 ares should read 1,200 m² straight away, and a “convert ares to m²” calculation offers a safe confirmation.
German Kleingarten
The German Federal Allotment Garden Act sets a maximum plot size of 400 square metres, 4 ares, including the hut. Many gardens measure 250 to 300 m², 2.5 to 3 ares. Clubs allocate plots by the are, and members pay annual fees according to the area they use.
A hundred square metres in everyday life
An are is the area of a small two bedroom flat, a double garage with a driveway, or a quarter of a tennis court complex. Ten metres by ten is an easy square to mark with string. If you want to feel how big a plot is, mark an are on the ground and stand in the middle.
Tennis courts and sports
A tennis court is 261 m², 2.6 ares, including the area between the lines. With run offs it needs about 600 m², 6 ares. A basketball court takes 4.2 ares, and a volleyball court 1.6. A small sports club with two tennis courts and a basketball court needs a plot of about 20 ares.
Hens, bees and small livestock
Organic rules in the European Union require four square metres of outdoor run per hen, so an are supports 25 hens. A beehive stands on about 1 m², a goat needs about 10 m² of paddock, and a small flock of ten sheep roughly 2 ares of good grass. Smallholders estimate their possibilities by ares of land.
Parking spaces on a plot
A standard parking space is about 12.5 m² including part of the aisle, so an are holds 7 to 8 cars. A house plot of 8 ares can take a driveway for two cars and a garage with room to spare. Planners count spaces per are in small developments.
Roof area and solar panels
A roof of 100 m², one are, fitted with panels of 200 W per square metre, produces about 20 kW at peak, with a typical yield of 20,000 kWh a year in a sunny region. Installers describe the roof in square metres, but landowners may talk about ares when they plan a ground array.
More values for convert ares to m²
A longer list of conversions
If the value you need is not in the first list, these further conversions may be close enough to read off directly:
- 0.1 a = 10 m²
- 0.5 a = 50 m²
- 3 a = 300 m²
- 4 a = 400 m²
- 7 a = 700 m²
- 15 a = 1,500 m²
- 20 a = 2,000 m²
- 75 a = 7,500 m²
- 200 a = 20,000 m²
- 500 a = 50,000 m²
- 2,000 a = 200,000 m²
- 10,000 a = 1,000,000 m²
Mistakes when you convert ares to m²
Dividing instead of multiplying
The are is the larger unit, so the number of square metres is larger. If 5 ares became 0.05, you divided.
Mixing up are and acre
The acre is 4,047 m², about 40 ares. Never read acre as are or vice versa.
Confusing a with the year
In SI the symbol a means year. When an area is meant, write are or square metres.
Quick answers
How many square metres in an are?
100.
How do I convert ares to m²?
Multiply by 100.
How many ares in a hectare?
100.
What is 8 ares in square metres?
800 m².
Does my number leave my device?
No. The calculation runs in your browser.
Related pages and a last word
If you work with land and area, these conversions are close at hand: Convert ft² to m², Convert acres to m², Convert m² to km², Convert km to mi, Convert mi to km, Convert °C to °F, Convert °F to °C, Convert K to °F, Convert K to °C. The reverse of this page is Convert m² to ares.
In short, to convert ares to m² multiply by 100, remember that a hectare holds 100 ares, and keep the symbol clear in writing. Your number stays on your device: nothing is uploaded and no account is needed.