A number of houses are set to go on the market as the Bermuda Housing Corporation gears up to face the future.

The Corporation has carried out a massive survey and is to alter the balance of its housing to take account of changing social trends, including family sizes.

BHC general manager Mr. Edwin Cowen said: "The updated information derived from the survey will enable us to achieve a better match of household and house and to identify houses which should be sold and to better serve our target group.'' And Quinton Edness, the former Minister of Health, Social Services and Housing, pledged in his foreword to BHC's annual report, published this week, to improve the standard of BHC homes.

He said: "Generally speaking, the houses in Bermuda are in good shape by world standards, there are still houses in some areas that need attention. We already know of these areas and will over the next few years make further efforts to introduce programmes to address rehabilitation.'' News of the changes were revealed in the 1995 report, which is due to go before Parliament for approval soon. The probe found that the average BHC tenant's household was larger than the Bermuda average, leading to a demand for three and four-bedroom properties rather than studio and one and two-bedroom homes.

Researchers found that 39 percent of BHC houses were overcrowded, while 10 percent were underused, having more space than the tenants needed.

The average household size for tenants of BHC is 3.1, compared to the Bermudian average of 2.61.

Now unsuitable houses will be sold off over the next five years and tenants will be moved to the size of house which best meets their needs.

But some tenants, who have been found to have incomes above the BHC target range will be asked to move to the private sector.

The biggest single group served by BHC is one-parent families, one-third of all tenants. Extended families make up 22 percent of tenants, while two-parent families use 21 percent of BHA homes.

A total of 18 percent of tenants are single. Couples with no children account for only five percent, with two or more unrelated people in a household accounting for only one percent of housing stock.

Mr. Cowen added: "Over the past year, we have arranged the sale of houses that were not ideally suited for our target group and it is our intention to continue that programme over the next five years.

"We will replace houses where necessary in order to achieve a stock of houses that better meets demand.''