The number of repossessions across England and Wales has fallen 45% year-on-year.

National valuations firm e.surv, part of LSL, said that in the first half of this year there were 0.9 repossessions per 1,000 households, down from 2.4 in the first half of 2014.

By comparison, in 2008 repossession rates stood at 8.2 per 1,000 households in the north and 1.7 in the south.

Altogether in the first half of this year, there were 23,279 repossessions.