RPI inflation, 2016 to July 2026
£1,000 in 2016 is £1,593 today
That £1,000 bought 287 pints of lager in 2016. Today it buys 193.
Prices up 59%4.5% a year on averageMultiply by 1.59
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 | 2016 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lager£3.48 then, about £5.17 today | 287 | 193 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation64p then, £1.80 today | 1,563 | 556 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation£2.08 then, about £2.38 today | 481 | 421 |
| kg of rump steaklagged inflation£16.29 then, about £20.21 today | 61 | 49 |
| kg of bananaslagged inflation85p then, about £1.09 today | 1,176 | 917 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£9.30 then, about £17.76 today | 108 | 56 |
| litres of unleadedlagged inflation£1.09 then, about £1.47 today | 917 | 682 |
| pints of bitterlagged inflation£3.00 then, about £4.07 today | 333 | 246 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation£2.92 then, about £4.04 today | 342 | 247 |
| boxes of tea bags£1.94 then, about £2.83 today | 515 | 354 |
| sliced white loaves£1.00 then, about £1.50 today | 1,000 | 668 |
| nips of whisky£2.69 then, about £4.17 today | 372 | 240 |
| pints of milk43p then, about 70p today | 2,342 | 1,439 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £1,593 |
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
£203,771 → £278,784
Up 1.4×, against 1.6× for prices generally
Average pay
£25,688 → £39,260
A year's average earnings, up 1.5×
Years of pay for a house
7.9 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£1,528
What £1,000 in 2016 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices