CPI inflation, 1999 to July 2026
£1,000 in 1999 is £1,982 today
That £1,000 bought 515 pints of lager in 1999. Today it buys 193.
Prices up 98%2.5% a year on averageMultiply by 1.98
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 | 1999 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lageroutran inflation£1.94 then, about £5.17 today | 515 | 193 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation25p then, £1.80 today | 4,000 | 556 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£3.58 then, about £17.76 today | 279 | 56 |
| kg of bananaslagged inflation£1.04 then, about £1.09 today | 962 | 917 |
| nips of whiskyoutran inflation£1.37 then, about £4.17 today | 730 | 240 |
| sliced white loavesoutran inflation51p then, about £1.50 today | 1,961 | 668 |
| pints of bitteroutran inflation£1.73 then, about £4.07 today | 578 | 246 |
| kg of rump steakoutran inflation£8.62 then, about £20.21 today | 116 | 49 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation£1.38 then, about £2.38 today | 725 | 421 |
| boxes of tea bags£1.54 then, about £2.83 today | 649 | 354 |
| kg of roasting chicken£2.20 then, about £4.04 today | 455 | 247 |
| litres of unleaded70p then, about £1.47 today | 1,429 | 682 |
| pints of milk34p then, about 70p today | 2,924 | 1,439 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £1,982 |
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
£71,122 → £278,784
Up 3.9×, against 2.0× for prices generally
Average pay
£15,818 → £39,260
A year's average earnings, up 2.5×
Years of pay for a house
4.5 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£2,482
What £1,000 in 1999 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices