RPI inflation, 1989 to July 2026
£1,000 in 1989 is £3,638 today
That £1,000 bought 926 pints of lager in 1989. Today it buys 193.
Prices up 264%3.5% a year on averageMultiply by 3.64
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 | 1989 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lageroutran inflation£1.08 then, about £5.17 today | 926 | 193 |
| kg of bananaslagged inflation£1.06 then, about £1.09 today | 943 | 917 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£1.51 then, about £17.76 today | 662 | 56 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation17p then, £1.80 today | 5,882 | 556 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation£1.94 then, about £4.04 today | 515 | 247 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation99p then, about £2.38 today | 1,010 | 421 |
| nips of whiskyoutran inflation76p then, about £4.17 today | 1,316 | 240 |
| pints of milklagged inflation28p then, about 70p today | 3,571 | 1,439 |
| kg of rump steaklagged inflation£7.68 then, about £20.21 today | 130 | 49 |
| boxes of tea bagslagged inflation£1.04 then, about £2.83 today | 962 | 354 |
| sliced white loaveslagged inflation49p then, about £1.50 today | 2,041 | 668 |
| pints of bitteroutran inflation96p then, about £4.07 today | 1,042 | 246 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £3,638 |
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
£61,514 → £278,784
Up 4.5×, against 3.6× for prices generally
Average pay
£9,532 → £39,260
A year's average earnings, up 4.1×
Years of pay for a house
6.5 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£4,119
What £1,000 in 1989 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices