LIVING 30 minutes outside Scotland's biggest cities can save commuters as much as £86,000 in house prices, analysis has found.

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

Their 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 ranging from £2,000 to more than £4,000.

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, including 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."

However, the saving may not all be that it seems due to the extra costs involved in travelling into the big cities from other areas.

For an annual rail pass between Dunblane and Edinburgh, commuters are expected to fork out more than £2,500. Those who work in the capital, but live in Kirkcaldy face a £2,200 annual expense.

Those travelling from Helensburgh or Ayr to Glasgow will have to set aside £1,500 and £2,300, respectively.

And living in Perth and wishing to work in Glasgow will mean an incredible annual train ticket of £4,400, or £3,400 from Perth to Edinburgh.

Furthermore, a study last week found an extra 20 minutes' commuting each day is equivalent to a 19 per cent pay cut when it comes to measuring job satisfaction.

Researchers examined the impacts of commuting to work on the wellbeing of more than 26,000 employees over a five-year period.

They found every extra minute of commuting time reduces job and leisure satisfaction, increases strain and worsens mental health.

Dr Kiron Chatterjee, an associate professor in travel behaviour at the University of the West of England and principal investigator, said: "While longer commute times were found to reduce job satisfaction, it is also clear that people take on longer commutes partly to increase their earnings, which in turn improves job satisfaction.

"This raises questions over whether the additional income associated with longer commutes fully compensates for the negative aspects of the journey to work."

Meanwhile, a separate study has found that almost half of workers would relocate if their employer could offer a better work-life balance.

A survey of 2,000 employees by finance giant Nationwide found that a large proportion of people were keen to escape city life, with the prime age for considering a move to another area for work said to be between 36 and 44.

While money was the biggest driver for relocating, 45 per cent said they would move for a better work-life balance.

Katrina Hutchinson-O'Neill, of Nationwide, said: "It was always assumed that to work for an innovative, leading organisation meant living in a metropolis.

"But our latest research puts pay to that view with more and more London workers moving beyond the M25 to locate that perfect job as an increasing number of companies base themselves in other parts of the UK."