Why Does a Choccy Bar Cost More Than It Used To?, July 2026 Inflation & Affordability Update
Hello there, I’m Peter Garland-Collins. As I’ve been walking around CM14 this week, I’ve found myself pondering a bit of a riddle: If everyone says houses are getting more expensive, why does it sometimes feel like we have more money in our pockets at the end of the month? It sounds like a bit of a head-scratcher, doesn’t it? Usually, we expect the cost of staying put to move in the same direction as the cost of moving house, but right now, the scales are tipping in a very interesting way.
To understand why, we have to look at a monster called "inflation." Think of inflation as a tiny thief that sneaks into your wallet and nibbles away at the edges of your pound notes. It’s the reason why a pint of milk, a liter of petrol, or your favorite biscuits cost a few pence more than they did last summer. Today, that "nibble" rate is sitting at 3%. That means, on average, things cost 3% more now than they did this time last year.
But here is the exciting part—the bit that actually matters for your Saturday morning trip to the high street. While the cost of your "weekly shop" has gone up by 3%, the amount of money people are getting in their pay packets has gone up by 4.6%.
Did you know that this creates a "secret bonus" for your bank balance? Because your pay is growing faster than the price of bread and milk, you actually have about 1.6% more "spending power" than you did a year ago. In plain English: after you’ve paid for your groceries and your bills, you should have a little bit more left over to put towards a deposit or a monthly mortgage payment.
Now, let’s look at the houses themselves. Across the whole country, the price of a typical home is now around £286,209. That’s about 3.9% higher than this time last year. You might notice that this is a bit of a jump from last month, where prices actually dipped slightly. It shows that even though the "Big Bank" (the Bank of England) has kept their interest rate steady at 3.75%, people are feeling a bit more confident about moving.
So, what does this mean if you’re dreaming of a new kitchen or a bigger garden? Well, because salaries are growing faster than the cost of living, it’s becoming just a little bit easier to save up. It’s like running a race where you are finally starting to pull ahead of the person trying to catch you.
Bringing it back home to CM14, we see how these big national numbers land on our own doorsteps. In our corner of the world, the average price people are asking for their homes is £444,656. We’ve seen that over the last seven years, homes here have gone up in value by over £18,000.
Because we are currently in what we call a "buyer’s market," there are more homes for sale (393 right now!) than there are people ready to sign on the dotted line. This, combined with the fact that your wages are finally beating the price of milk, means you have more choice and more "oomph" in your budget when you go to make an offer.
It’s a balancing act, but for the first time in a while, the wind is starting to blow in the right direction for your wallet. Things are looking up, and that’s a very good reason to be cheerful this July!