RPI inflation, 1968 to August 2026
£1,000 in 1968 is £25,521 today
That £1,000 bought 6,250 kg of bananas in 1968. Today it buys 911.
Prices up 2,452%5.7% a year on averageMultiply by 25.52
What £1,000 buys
Official average shop prices, not a basket. Things marked as outrunning inflation got dearer faster than everything else; things that lagged got relatively cheaper.
| Item | 1968 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| kg of bananaslagged inflation16p then, about £1.10 today | 6,250 | 911 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation41p then, about £4.07 today | 2,439 | 246 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation19p then, about £2.39 today | 5,263 | 419 |
| pints of milklagged inflation4p then, about 70p today | 23,256 | 1,429 |
| sliced white loaveslagged inflation8p then, about £1.51 today | 12,500 | 664 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £25,521 |
The ONS stopped publishing these average prices in January 2025. Today's figures are that last reading moved on with inflation, so treat them as close rather than exact.
Houses and wages
Inflation is one story. What people earned, and what a home cost, are the other two.
Average house
£4,010 → £278,784
Up 69.5×, against 25.5× for prices generally
Average pay
£790 → £39,312
A year's average earnings, up 49.7×
Years of pay for a house
5.1 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£49,737
What £1,000 in 1968 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices