The average family's weekly grocery bill would be £421 if the prices of food had risen in line with house prices across the UK, housing charity Shelter reveals today (Thursday).

To highlight the shocking extent of house price inflation, the charity has analysed the cost of a typical shopping trolley of groceries for a family of four if prices had risen at the same rate as UK-wide house prices in the last 40 years. [1]

In 1971, the average home cost £5,632. By 2008, that average had risen to £227,765. If food and other essential items had risen at the same rate, Shelter found that a pint of milk would cost £2.43, a chicken £47.51 and a jar of coffee £20.22.

It would mean the average family paying around three times as much for their weekly food shop as they do today.

Graeme Brown, Director of Shelter Scotland, housing and homelessness charity, said: 'These calculations show just how out of line the cost of housing has become – yet we seem to have simply accepted these inflated prices as normal in a way we wouldn’t with anything else.'

Mr Brown added: 'Housing affects so many areas of people’s lives and high housing costs are increasingly influencing the choices people make about how they live their lives.

'John Swinney missed the chance to fill the £204 million hole in the housing budget – and we will face the consequences as more and more people join the hundreds of thousands of people already in need of an affordable home.  

'In this election year, and the years to come, it’s vital that all political parties make housing a top priority so that future generations are not held back by the cost of housing. We must build more affordable homes.'

Notes to editors

1. The figures are UK-wide. No Scottish breakdown is available. In 1971, the average house price was £5,632. Today it is £227,765. This is a multiplication of 40.44.
2. The average weekly food bill for a family of 4 is £136 source: Daily Telegraph article.