According to a recent report, home sales have halved in the past year. Coming alongside evidence of the soaring number of repossessions, the news lays bare the extent of the meltdown in the housing market. In June last year, 140,000 homes were sold for £40,000 or more. This was before the Northern Rock debacle began and the words 'credit crunch' were bandied about. Twelve months later, figures from HM Revenue and Customs show that just 77,000 homes were sold in June.