Fuel and travel costs are pushing prices up again
Thursday 5 November 2026
Inflation has risen to 3.1%, meaning everyday spending is getting more expensive just as household budgets are already under pressure.
Consumer Prices Index including housing costs (CPIH)
A UK measure of price changes like CPI, with an added measure of the cost of living in a home you own and Council Tax.
Key term
What it means
CPIH starts with the goods and services covered by CPI. It adds a measure of the housing service that owner-occupiers get from living in their homes, as well as Council Tax. That housing measure is estimated mainly by looking at rents for similar homes; it is not a direct measure of mortgage payments. Ordinary rent is already included in CPI as well as CPIH. The ONS uses CPIH as its broadest measure of consumer price inflation.
Example
Two price reports may show different inflation rates for the same month because one uses CPI and the other uses CPIH, which gives housing costs a different place in the calculation.
Why it matters
Saying CPIH “includes housing” should not suggest that CPI ignores rent, or that CPIH follows each homeowner's mortgage bill.
Also known as
Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs
CPIH
Related terms
-
Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
A UK measure of how prices change for a wide range of things people buy.
Read more -
Core inflation
A measure of inflation that leaves out certain prices, usually food, energy, alcohol and tobacco in UK figures.
Read more -
Housing affordability
Whether people can manage the cost of buying or renting a home.
Read more -
Inflation
A general rise in prices over time.
Read more -
Retail Prices Index (RPI)
An older UK measure of consumer price changes that is still used for some payments and contracts.
Read more
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