Commuting an hour into London could save you hundreds of thousands of pounds on house prices

Commuting for an hour into London could save the city's workers almost £450,000 on the price of a house, according to research by Lloyds Bank.

The average price of a home in zones one or two of London is £741,919, said Lloyds, compared to £294,903 in commuter towns an hour outside of the city, such as Southend-on-Sea and Wellingborough.

Moving a 40-minute commute from the city, to areas such as Billericay or Reading, would save £353,000 on average. And a 20-minute commute, such as from Ilford or Elstree & Borehamwood, could still save commuters £297,795 on central London prices.

"However the decision of whether to live in the city or further away is not simply a trade-off between financial costs and journey times," Andrew Mason, mortgage products director at Lloyds Bank said.

"Quality of life is also a major factor: family circumstances, better schools, physical environment and homes that offer better value for money also come into the equation. That explains why, especially outside London, commuters are often prepared to pay a premium to commute when they could be better off in purely financial terms living closer to their place of work."