RPI inflation, 2006 to July 2026
£1.00 in 2006 is £2.12 today
That £1.00 bought 0.40 pints of lager in 2006. Today it buys 0.19.
Prices up 112%3.7% a year on averageMultiply by 2.12
What £1.00 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 | 2006 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lager£2.51 then, about £5.17 today | 0.40 | 0.19 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation30p then, £1.80 today | 3.3 | 0.56 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£4.76 then, about £17.76 today | 0.21 | 0.06 |
| kg of bananaslagged inflation90p then, about £1.09 today | 1.1 | 0.92 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation£1.65 then, about £2.38 today | 0.61 | 0.42 |
| litres of unleadedlagged inflation91p then, about £1.47 today | 1.1 | 0.68 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation£2.24 then, about £4.04 today | 0.45 | 0.25 |
| pints of bitter£2.20 then, about £4.07 today | 0.45 | 0.25 |
| sliced white loaves81p then, about £1.50 today | 1.2 | 0.67 |
| boxes of tea bags£1.49 then, about £2.83 today | 0.67 | 0.35 |
| nips of whisky£1.80 then, about £4.17 today | 0.56 | 0.24 |
| pints of milk35p then, about 70p today | 2.9 | 1.4 |
| kg of rump steak£9.41 then, about £20.21 today | 0.11 | 0.05 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1.00 | £2.12 |
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
£166,470 → £278,784
Up 1.7×, against 2.1× for prices generally
Average pay
£20,800 → £39,260
A year's average earnings, up 1.9×
Years of pay for a house
8.0 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£1.89
What £1.00 in 2006 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices