depends on which side of the political fence you are looking from.

According to the 1991 Census, 51 percent of Bermudian households own the homes they occupy, an "appallingly low number'' according to Opposition Leader Mr.

Frederick Wade.

But Government chief statistician Mr. Donald Scott said total home ownership -- put at 56 percent when people who rent their homes and live in rented accommodation are included -- is impressive, as are the gains in home ownership since 1980.

And Housing Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness said the level would be worse if the Progressive Labour Party was in power because it favoured low cost rentals over Government sales of homes to owners.

The row over home ownership follows the release of the 1991 Census, which gave updated statistics on housing for the first time since 1980 when Bermuda was on the verge of a housing crisis caused by a lack of affordable homes for sale or rent.

The 1991 Census showed: the number of occupied dwelling units had increased from 18,375 in 1980 to 22,061 in 1991, an increase of 20 percent or 3,686 units; the number of owner-occupiers increased 31 percent from 7,308 to 9,542 and went from 40 percent of all households to 43 percent; Bermudian owner-occupiers increased 31 percent from 6,784 to 8,900, making up 51 percent of all Bermudian households compared to 47 percent in 1990; and sixteen percent of the total housing stock -- or 3,581 homes -- were built between 1980 and 1991.

Mr. Wade said he was "shocked'' by the 51 percent figure.

"The Government keeps saying how wonderful Bermuda is, but a key way to measure the wealth of a country is through home ownership,'' he said. "Fifty one percent is appalling compared to other countries where home ownership is between 60 and 70 percent.

"Even though a lot of house building has taken place in 20 years, even with that, we have not been able to make a significant majority as home owners.

"It demonstrates to us that the wealth of Bermuda is not fairly distributed and home ownership is one indication of that.'' But Mr. Scott said the owner-occupier figure did not account for full home ownership by Bermudians, because it did not include people who owned homes but were renting them while living in rented accommodation themselves.

He said the full figure -- which was not taken in 1980 -- was 56 percent, a figure which was comparable with most western nations.

"This is quite a significant improvement,'' he said. " A change of that magnitude would usually take between 15 to 20 years, especially when there has been an increase in homes of 20 percent.

"But one thing which mitigates against home ownership is the relatively high cost of property in Bermuda and existing mortgage terms,'' he said. "You are looking at a purchase price of a minimum of $200,000 on which in most cases you gave to provide a down payment of 35 percent.

"That is a substantial amount and given a traditional 15 to 20 year Bermuda mortgage, you are paying a substantial amount per month for a long period.

"When you compare that with the US or Canada where you are paying a lower down payment and longer terms, then that goes some way to explaining the disparity in home ownership.'' Mr. Scott's comments are backed by Government's 1990 Economic Review, in which a special report on home ownership which said that in 1988 just 34.3 percent of Bermudians under the age of 40 owned their own homes.

The reasons for this were the high costs of land and construction and artificially high costs of real estate because of artifically low interest rates, which tended to drive people to invest in property rather than other forms of investment.

Coupled with short lending terms for mortgages, high down payment requirements and occasional credit squeezes, "only a small proportion of the younger generation of Bermudians has been able to overcome these adverse factors and purchase their own home'', the report said, concluding that only gradual deregulation of interest rates would ease the problem.

Mr. Edness expressed some surprise at the ownership figure, saying he thought it would have been higher.

"I do not know if the fact that home ownership is in the 50 percent range instead of the 60 percent range is an indication of the distribution of the Country's wealth, he said.

"But I do know one thing for sure. Under this United Bermuda Party Government, this Country has experienced far wider home ownership over the past 11 years than it would have under the PLP because the PLP fought us tooth and nail over the building of homes for sale to owner occupiers.

"We had a fundamental disagreement with them over the construction of Devon Springs, Rockaway and Ducks Puddle because they wanted an impossible thing called low cost housing which failed to take account of the high cost of building in Bermuda,'' he said.

Government moved into the home ownership business because of the restrictive mortgage terms and high down payment requirements, he said. The Housing Corporation's longer terms and lower down payments helped people who would otherwise have been unable to afford homes to buy them.

Mr. Edness said the Island's limited land also curtailed the growth of home ownership as it was impossible to build large numbers of homes at low prices.

Shortages of foreign exchange led to mortgage shortages as well, he said.

"We need to provide other savings and investment vehicles which will take the pressure off building and owning your own home as the only vehicle for investment,'' he said.