RPI inflation, 2011 to August 2026
£1,000 in 2011 is £1,793 today
That £1,000 bought 325 pints of lager in 2011. Today it buys 192.
Prices up 79%3.8% a year on averageMultiply by 1.79
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 | 2011 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lager£3.08 then, about £5.20 today | 325 | 192 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation41p then, £1.80 today | 2,439 | 556 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation£2.90 then, about £2.39 today | 345 | 419 |
| litres of unleadedlagged inflation£1.33 then, about £1.48 today | 752 | 678 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£6.52 then, about £17.87 today | 153 | 56 |
| sliced white loaveslagged inflation£1.20 then, about £1.51 today | 833 | 664 |
| kg of bananaslagged inflation85p then, about £1.10 today | 1,176 | 911 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation£3.13 then, about £4.07 today | 319 | 246 |
| boxes of tea bagslagged inflation£1.97 then, about £2.84 today | 508 | 352 |
| pints of bitterlagged inflation£2.69 then, about £4.09 today | 372 | 244 |
| pints of milklagged inflation45p then, about 70p today | 2,208 | 1,429 |
| kg of rump steak£12.77 then, about £20.33 today | 78 | 49 |
| nips of whisky£2.26 then, about £4.20 today | 442 | 238 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £1,793 |
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
£165,131 → £278,784
Up 1.7×, against 1.8× for prices generally
Average pay
£23,660 → £39,312
A year's average earnings, up 1.7×
Years of pay for a house
7.0 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£1,662
What £1,000 in 2011 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices