Applications assume Home folder to be /home/{user} All my apps have started identifying Home folder as /home/{user} rather than  /Users/{user}. This is causing them not to be able to launch as they can't be launched due to inability to write/read from /home/{user} 

e.g 
When launched Chrome says following popup and doesn't launch: 

Google Chrome cannot read or write to it's data directory :
/home/{user}/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome

When launched Skype says following popup and doesn't launch: 

Can't create Skype folder at "/home/{user}/Library/Application Support/Skype/"
Make sure you have enough privileges to create that folder and then launch skype again.

Relaunching finder gives me this message :

The home or Users folder may have been moved or deleted. If the home folder is located on the network, the server may be temporarily unavailable. If you continue to have problems, see your system administrator.

Any solutions ?
Log in to a different user account, then open System Preferences → Users &amp; Groups.
Unlock the pane and right-click your user account in the list, then click Advanced Options.
Make sure the Home Directory listed is correct and change it if necessary, then reboot.