RPI inflation, 1998 to July 2026
£1,000 in 1998 is £2,573 today
That £1,000 bought 529 pints of lager in 1998. Today it buys 193.
Prices up 157%3.4% a year on averageMultiply by 2.57
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 | 1998 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lager£1.89 then, about £5.17 today | 529 | 193 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation25p then, £1.80 today | 4,000 | 556 |
| kg of bananaslagged inflation£1.07 then, about £1.09 today | 935 | 917 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£3.19 then, about £17.76 today | 313 | 56 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation£2.26 then, about £4.04 today | 442 | 247 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation£1.31 then, about £2.38 today | 763 | 421 |
| boxes of tea bagslagged inflation£1.54 then, about £2.83 today | 649 | 354 |
| pints of milklagged inflation34p then, about 70p today | 2,933 | 1,439 |
| nips of whiskyoutran inflation£1.34 then, about £4.17 today | 746 | 240 |
| sliced white loaves51p then, about £1.50 today | 1,961 | 668 |
| litres of unleaded65p then, about £1.47 today | 1,538 | 682 |
| kg of rump steak£8.41 then, about £20.21 today | 119 | 49 |
| pints of bitter£1.69 then, about £4.07 today | 592 | 246 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £2,573 |
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
£65,201 → £278,784
Up 4.3×, against 2.6× for prices generally
Average pay
£15,127 → £39,260
A year's average earnings, up 2.6×
Years of pay for a house
4.3 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£2,595
What £1,000 in 1998 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices