Property dilemma: Buying on the outskirts to save short term or pay big for inner

Perth is facing a cost-commute conundrum, with new research showing some workers from outer suburbs are spending six-figure sums on petrol and years sitting in peak hour traffic.

New research by OpenAgent — the first-ever study quantifying lifetime commute times and costs — reveals a daily 50km return trip results in about $100,000 in petrol costs over a working lifetime.

The long commute is equivalent to up two-and-a-half years in traffic over a 42-year career.

OpenAgent co-chief executive Johanna Urrutia said buying property far from Perth’s key job centres in a bid to save on mortgage costs may be counterproductive because of the vast amounts of money — and time — spent in a long commute.

And the stakes have never been higher, thanks to increasing traffic congestion, the widesprea