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Business Today
Business live
UK house prices drop in April as ‘affordability pressures’ hit borrowers; new Post Office interim chair named
Live  
UK house prices drop in April as ‘affordability pressures’ hit borrowers; new Post Office interim chair named
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Headlines
Amazon  
Sales soar with boost from artificial intelligence and advertising
Sales soar with boost from artificial intelligence and advertising
Dividends  
Payments soar globally as worker pay stagnates
Local government  
Birmingham city council accused of basing drastic cuts on ‘imagined’ data
Brexit  
Food importers in UK say new checks could add 60% to costs
US  
Binance founder sentenced to four months for money laundering
Climate crisis  
G7 agree to end use of unabated coal power plants by 2035
Qantas  
Passengers’ personal details exposed as airline app logs users into wrong account
Technology  
Eight US newspapers sue OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement
Manchester United  
Interim CEO and chief financial officer to leave club
Mortgages  
Nationwide stops lending on some flood-risk properties
Football  
Everton call in insolvency advisers amid fresh doubt over 777 takeover
The Everton crisis explained  
How did it get to this point?
Travel  
Cuts to England’s cycling and walking budget challenged in court
Akiya houses  
Why Japan has nine million empty homes
Today's agenda
UK house prices dipped again in April, as rising borrowing costs made it harder for buyers to afford a mortgage.

The lender Nationwide has reported that prices fell by 0.4%, on a seasonally adjusted basis, in April – after the 0.2% month-on-month drop in March.

That pulled the annual rate of house price growth down to 0.6% in April, from 1.6% the previous month, with the average house now costing £261,962.

Economists had expected a small monthly rise, of 0.2%.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “The slowdown likely reflects ongoing affordability pressures, with longer-term interest rates rising in recent months, reversing the steep fall seen around the turn of the year. House prices are now around 4% below the all-time highs recorded in the summer of 2022, after taking account of seasonal effects."

At the start of this year, mortgage lenders were engaged in a price war as they slashed rates to attract buyers. But the market has changed, as City investors have reduced their forecasts for interest rate cuts this year.

With only two Bank of England cuts now expected in 2024, several lenders have recently raised rates – adding to the pressure on homebuyers and those looking to remortgage.

Nigel Railton, the ex-boss of the former national lottery operator Camelot, has been named as the interim chair of the Post Office.

Railton will succeed Henry Staunton, who was fired from the role in January.

The Department for Business and Trade said Railton had “a wealth of experience in transforming organisations” – which he will need, as the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal continues.

Railton will lead the board of directors and be invited to give ministers his views on the future direction of the Post Office. But as he has been named as an interim chair, he may not be planning to do the job on a long-term basis.

GSK has raised its 2024 profit forecast, with strong demand for its RSV and shingles vaccines.

Britain’s second-biggest drugmaker said it now expects a rise of 8% to 10% in annual adjusted earnings per share, up from the 6-9% growth it had previously forecast. It expects its sales this year to rise in the upper end of its 5% to 7% forecast range.

The agenda
• 9am BST: eurozone manufacturing PMI for April
• 9.30am BST: UK manufacturing PMI for April
• 3pm BST: US JOLTS survey of job vacancies
• 7pm BST: US Federal Reserve sets interest rates

We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day ...
Nils Pratley on finance
Noel Quinn’s exit seems respectable but big uncertainties about HSBC remain
Noel Quinn’s exit seems respectable but big uncertainties about HSBC remain
Opinion
Analysis  
Fears of Putin swinging elections behind EU’s Meta crackdown
Fears of Putin swinging elections behind EU’s Meta crackdown
Media
Press freedom  
China erases memory of ‘white paper’ protests in further threat to journalism
China erases memory of ‘white paper’ protests in further threat to journalism
Station to station  
The European language DJs taking radio to new realms
Spotlight
New NFU chief Tom Bradshaw fights to give food producers a better deal
‘It’s pretty gloomy out there’  
New NFU chief Tom Bradshaw fights to give food producers a better deal
Rishi Sunak claimed to have farmers’ backs but their union’s president is far from convinced, as he spars with the government over floods, falling markets and fraught retailer relations
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Jonathan Watts

Global environment writer

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Conflict in Gaza, war in Ukraine, a battle over the global environment – the world is becoming an increasingly hostile place, particularly for frontline journalists.

The Guardian is marking World Press Freedom Day with a series of articles about the threats posed to all types of reporters.

We want to use our platform to highlight the work they are doing, often in incredibly dangerous circumstances. Without the courage of correspondents working in conflict areas, press organisations warn the world will start to see “zones of silence” where important stories go unreported.

The risks may be growing, and the space to operate may be increasingly constrained, but we are more determined than ever to tell the stories of our age so that you, the readers, have the information to act as voters, citizens, consumers and participants in the web of life on Earth.

If you’re able to, please support the Guardian’s independent, open journalism on a monthly basis today from as a little as £4.

 
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