RPI inflation, 1996 to July 2026
£1,000 in 1996 is £2,745 today
That £1,000 bought 578 pints of lager in 1996. Today it buys 193.
Prices up 174%3.4% a year on averageMultiply by 2.74
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 | 1996 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lager£1.73 then, about £5.17 today | 578 | 193 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation25p then, £1.80 today | 4,000 | 556 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£2.73 then, about £17.76 today | 366 | 56 |
| kg of bananaslagged inflation93p then, about £1.09 today | 1,075 | 917 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation£1.36 then, about £2.38 today | 735 | 421 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation£2.29 then, about £4.04 today | 437 | 247 |
| pints of milklagged inflation36p then, about 70p today | 2,786 | 1,439 |
| boxes of tea bagslagged inflation£1.34 then, about £2.83 today | 746 | 354 |
| nips of whiskyoutran inflation£1.22 then, about £4.17 today | 820 | 240 |
| kg of rump steaklagged inflation£8.78 then, about £20.21 today | 114 | 49 |
| litres of unleaded56p then, about £1.47 today | 1,786 | 682 |
| pints of bitter£1.54 then, about £4.07 today | 649 | 246 |
| sliced white loaves55p then, about £1.50 today | 1,818 | 668 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £2,745 |
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
£53,394 → £278,784
Up 5.2×, against 2.7× for prices generally
Average pay
£13,770 → £39,260
A year's average earnings, up 2.9×
Years of pay for a house
3.9 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£2,851
What £1,000 in 1996 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices