RPI inflation, 1981 to August 2026
£1,000 in 1981 is £5,642 today
That £1,000 bought 1,587 kg of bananas in 1981. Today it buys 911.
Prices up 464%3.9% a year on averageMultiply by 5.64
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 | 1981 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| kg of bananaslagged inflation63p then, about £1.10 today | 1,587 | 911 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation12p then, £1.80 today | 8,333 | 556 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation£1.54 then, about £4.07 today | 649 | 246 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation70p then, about £2.39 today | 1,429 | 419 |
| kg of rump steaklagged inflation£5.52 then, about £20.33 today | 181 | 49 |
| pints of milklagged inflation19p then, about 70p today | 5,263 | 1,429 |
| sliced white loaveslagged inflation37p then, about £1.51 today | 2,703 | 664 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £5,642 |
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
£23,954 → £278,784
Up 11.6×, against 5.6× for prices generally
Average pay
£4,961 → £39,312
A year's average earnings, up 7.9×
Years of pay for a house
4.8 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£7,925
What £1,000 in 1981 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices