Here’s How Much You Need to Earn to Buy a Home in Boston

A new report details just how pricey our city is.

Photo via iStock

You probably don’t need a new report to tell you Boston is expensive. It’s been teeming with dollar signs for some time, but a recent analysis has detailed just how pricey our city is.

Mortgage information site HSH.com crunched the numbers this month to determine the salary you have to earn to buy a home in the 50 largest cities in the country. As expected, things aren’t pretty in Boston.

According to the report, Bostonians have to rake in around $98,518.71 to own a home here. That almost six figure salary is more than double what you’d need to earn in cities like Atlanta, Georgia ($43,893.29) and Buffalo, New York ($40,024.95). Plus, if homebuyers in Boston put down 10 percent on a home instead of 20 percent, the required salary increases from $98,518.71 to $114,102.23.

The analysis identified Boston’s median home price at $464,900, with a 6.68 percent increase year over year. That’s three times more expensive than the median home price in Buffalo and two times more expensive than Atlanta. And on average, Bostonians are expected to pay a monthly mortgage payment of $2,298.77.

Overall, Boston clocked in as the sixth most expensive metro area on the list. It was beat out by San Jose, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, and New York City.

HSH pulled second quarter data from the National Association of Realtors, Freddie Mac, and the Mortgage Bankers Association of America to assemble the analysis. The report explains most median home prices “were measurably higher, sometimes substantially, when comparing the first quarter of 2017.” Compared with the second quarter of 2016, though, no U.S. markets saw decreases in price.

To conclude the report, HSH cites two reasons for the country’s rising prices: plenty of demand and limited supply. Like we haven’t heard that before.