Huge House Price Saving Well Worth A 30-Minute Commute

30 October 2017, 06:30

Living 30 minutes outside Scotland's biggest cities can save commuters up to £86,000 in house prices, analysis has found.

Properties half an hour outside of Edinburgh are £86,371 (36%) lower on average and £22,000 (13%) lower a similar distance outside Glasgow, according to the Bank of Scotland.

A report found commuters were typically better off getting the train into Glasgow or Edinburgh than living close to their place of work, despite annual travel costs of more than £1,700.

In Aberdeen, a commute of an hour is required outside of the city to make a saving with average prices in areas such as a Inverurie and Insch almost £40,000 above the average city price of £195,000.

House prices in Edinburgh commuter towns, such as Dunbar and Livingston, are £156,829 on average, compared with £243,200 in the capital, while prices in towns near Glasgow, like Greenock and Motherwell, are £148,614 compared with almost £171,000 in the city.

Graham Blair, mortgages director at Bank of Scotland, said: "Distance from work is often one of the deciding factors for purchasing a home.

"It is generally true that a 30-minute commute can provide a large financial saving in terms of lower house prices.

"This is the case with most towns surrounding Edinburgh and Glasgow, but not Aberdeen, where you need to commute around an hour to benefit from lower house prices.

"A major consideration for commuting to leading cities such as these is that the typically higher income that can be earned tends to go much further in surrounding towns."