CPI inflation, 2017 to August 2026
£1,000 in 2017 is £1,389 today
That £1,000 bought 279 pints of lager in 2017. Today it buys 192.
Prices up 39%3.5% a year on averageMultiply by 1.39
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 | 2017 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lager£3.58 then, about £5.20 today | 279 | 192 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation64p then, £1.80 today | 1,563 | 556 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£9.54 then, about £17.87 today | 105 | 56 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation£2.03 then, about £2.39 today | 493 | 419 |
| pints of milkoutran inflation43p then, about 70p today | 2,315 | 1,429 |
| kg of bananas90p then, about £1.10 today | 1,111 | 911 |
| litres of unleaded£1.18 then, about £1.48 today | 847 | 678 |
| kg of rump steak£15.91 then, about £20.33 today | 63 | 49 |
| nips of whisky£2.79 then, about £4.20 today | 358 | 238 |
| sliced white loaves£1.03 then, about £1.51 today | 971 | 664 |
| kg of roasting chicken£2.82 then, about £4.07 today | 355 | 246 |
| pints of bitter£3.05 then, about £4.09 today | 328 | 244 |
| boxes of tea bags£1.99 then, about £2.84 today | 503 | 352 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £1,389 |
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
£209,935 → £278,784
Up 1.3×, against 1.4× for prices generally
Average pay
£26,260 → £39,312
A year's average earnings, up 1.5×
Years of pay for a house
8.0 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£1,497
What £1,000 in 2017 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices