Government's banning of the sale of certain residential properties to non-Bermudians has hurt black Bermudians more than it has white Bermudians, UBP Senator Bob Richards argued yesterday.

The new property regulations dictate that foreigners may now only buy homes with an annual rental value (ARV) above $126,000 which are being sold by non-Bermudians.

However, in the House of Assembly yesterday afternoon, Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton vigorously defended the new policy, pouring scorn on the suggestion that Bermudians would be disadvantaged in any way.

Blacks have the majority of their savings tied up in real estate while whites are more diversified with some savings in stocks and bonds as well, Sen. Richards said. That led Government Senate leader Larry Mussenden to claim that the reason all whites put some money in stocks and bonds is due to the politics of the UBP.

When Sen. Richards said he was talking about the real estate changes put in place by the PLP, Sen. Mussenden responded by calling the UBP "cowards".

Accusing the UBP of wanting to give "all our land away to non-Bermudians", he said the Opposition had failed to understand the effect of the policy and the Government's reasons for addressing it. "Fronting has been going on," he declared, adding that one reason Government has to borrow money is because it is being robbed of "millions and millions of dollars" in fees from non-Bermudians using a Bermudian to purchase property on the Island and circumvent the fee structure.

The policy will also help all the first-time home buyers looking to own their 'piece of the Rock', he said. Young Bermudians are currently challenged in the housing market because of the practice of foreigners buying the land, he claimed, while these regulations banning foreigners buying properties with an ARV above $126,000 will help those first-time homeowners.

Both Sen. Richards and Opposition Senate leader Kim Swan maintained the legislation was "using a sledgehammer to crush a cockroach", however, with both observing that "with the stroke of a pen, you have devalued Bermudians' real estate".

Government had other options, they said. If the Minister was concerned about fronting ? the practice of a trust being set up concealing the fact that a non-Bermudian was in fact purchasing the land ? the Minister could have prevented the granting of a licence in such cases, Sen. Swan argued.

If the problem was the ARVs, he added, Government could have increased the ARVs. But, in either case, it didn't.

While Government may talk about consultation, partnerships, and one Bermudian family, he added, it only applies those principles "when it's convenient".

Government Senator Raymond Tannock said the Government has to consider the interests of the Island as a whole.

"Some decisions we make are not very popular," he said.

However if Government were to bow to the discontented one percent of the population, "what would the other 99 percent do?

"They'd shout a lot louder than you," he observed to Opposition Senators. The Senate adjourned before lunch yesterday, and will meet again on March 14.