It would be dangerous to allow the cost of housing to soar and the dream of affordable housing get further away, according to the Chamber of Commerce.

And realtors want more affordable housing stock to allow everyone - and not just the super-wealthy - to be able to buy their own house said Scott Powell, head of the Real Estate Division of the Chamber.

And he said yesterday that whoever gets into power after the election must help those less well off with housing.

"Our sector suffers as do buyers when there are fewer properties to sell," said Mr. Powell speaking for his division."

We as agents would like to see more middle-market volume in sales. More economic building costs would stimulate development/development increasing supply and pressuring prices downwards to the benefit of the home-buying public." Mr. Powell, a realtor himself at Gibbons and Outerbridge, said that he was limiting his comments to the residential market which he said was by far the largest and most influential sector of the real estate market and to the community.

"There has been a trend in the residential real estate market which is both disturbing and potentially threatening to the social stability of the Island," he said.

"That trend is the steadily reducing supply of residential units for sale and the increased prices being asked and obtained for then."

And he said that market forces were at work and if they were to see home ownership grow in Bermuda, supply of housing needs to be addressed.

"The Government, of whichever political party might be elected, must help those who are unable to compete in the housing market," he said.

"That is its social responsibility.

"The private sector is ruled by finance. In short, if a project is not financially feasible it will not happen."

And Mr. Powell said that building a house in Bermuda is starting to become less feasible to the average home buyer.

"If you do the math building to rent makes little sense these days, much less relying on a one or two bedroom apartment to cover the mortgage.

"The financiers are more than willing to lend the individual money at historically low rates, but what lurks in the future as interest rates inevitably rise?

"Yes, the service providers to the construction industry deserve to make a living, but there is an expectation that a family with one large income or two incomes should be able to buy their own home.

"As costs soar into the several hundreds of dollars per square foot, that expectation dwindles into fantasy.

"It would be exceedingly dangerous to allow this to continue."

Mr. Powell said that Bermuda's limited land mass exacerbates the situation and there is less and less undeveloped land on which to build.

He added: "At what point will we exhaust that?

"Have we already gone too far? What alternatives are there?

"No green space, read natural beauty, affects tourism and the health of our residents.

" A Bermuda carpeted in concrete will not breed happy people.

"What is the answer? There are no `silver bullets'. What we need is a concerted approach to the issues with an overall goal in mind. The middle market is most in need of relief in the supply shortage. Pressure here has caused more people to compete for the lower cost units."

Mr. Powell said he wished to make it clear that his sector were not asking for Government hand-outs but for it to facilitate the private sector in meeting housing needs, in general, and where appropriate, with clearly-defined criteria, to determine genuine need and provide assistance to them.