No, it’s not just you who thinks that living in Boston isn’t cheap. A new report proves that it is hard to make ends meet here in the city; “The Housing Report Card” released by the Boston Foundation and the Citizen's Housing and Planning Association, announced today that Boston is indeed an expensive place to live, in fact the most expensive in the country. Yes, the city who ranked second in "Best for Singles" by Forbes Magazine this past year, has again beat out New York City, San Francisco and Washington D.C., but now it's in housing costs. A family of four in Boston needs over $64,000 to cover the most basic costs to live. (In comparison, a family of four in NYC needs $58,000.) The report points to Boston housing prices, which have increased so much that people’s incomes and housing production cannot keep up. Massachusetts is home to the highest housing prices and has been for the last 25 years; these high prices keep out younger would-be-buyers like Bostonist from ever being able to buy their own place. The report warns that younger residents blocked out from buying will start to move out-of-state in order to afford real estate.

While the government recommends that people only spend one third of their income on rent or mortages, more than 19,000 renters spend more than 50% of their paychecks to live in Greater Boston. The Housing Report Card does mention that 13,556 building permits were issued last year around the city, which is the highest amount since 1987. More buildings going up mean more options for Boston residents.

During the past few months, the local media has been mentioning that the real estate “bubble” is about to pop at any moment. Economists have recently announced that the housing boom will slowly end across the country, meaning trouble for home owners, with property that won’t be worth what it used to be, and even more trouble for recent buyers, who were reaching when they bought into the real estate game.

So what does this all mean? Real estate in Boston will eventually cool down as expected and Boston won’t always be the most expensive place to live. For now, it looks like all Bostonist can afford is a rental with roommates.

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