Article: Our health at stake as commuters pay the price for a dream home

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Our health at stake as commuters pay the price for a dream home

Our health at stake as commuters pay the price for a dream home

    by: Elissa Doherty
    From: Herald Sun
    October 22, 2011 12:00AM

A LONG commute to work is a growing trade-off for the dream of home ownership.

Commuting for 45 minutes or longer is more likely to leave people stressed, dissatisfied with their lives and relationships and suffering migraines, AustraliaSCAN research shows.

Young people are most at risk as housing affordability worsens and first-home buyers are increasingly pushed to outer suburbs.

Imogen Randell, managing director of Quantum Market Research, which runs AustraliaSCAN, said commuting times on average had increased, particularly as more Australians moved to the urban fringe.

"Work remains close to our CBD areas and the result is an increased load on our already struggling roads ... and more time spent commuting," she said.

Across Australia, people in the 25-34 age bracket commuted the longest - an average of 30.7 minutes - followed by 26.8 minutes for those aged 35-44 and 25.5 minutes for 45-54-year-olds.

People with a journey to work of 45 minutes or longer are 52 per cent more likely to be dissatisfied with their family relationships than short-trip commuters, the research, based on annual interviews of 2000 Australians, shows.

Mission Australia head of social policy Eleri Morgan-Thomas said cheaper accommodation closer to the CBD was needed for city workers in key industries, and better public transport.

"There can be costs to social and family lives ... when you get home at 7pm you are not going to have the time or the energy to coach the local sport, for example," she said.

Milana Wallace, 44, who lives near Ringwood, spends 90 minutes driving to the rail station, on the train and then walking to her job at a city graphic design/communications firm. Driving to work makes a two-hour round trip.

But she said flexible hours made the trip less stressful now than 10 years ago when she worked full-time days.