House buyers and the Government are sitting on a supply "time bomb" caused partly by delays in the planning process, a conference has been told. It heard calls for a national plan to speed up development.

Irish Home Builders Association (IHBA) chairman, Francis Rhatigan, told his organisation's annual conference at the weekend that strategic planning for future development must be stepped up a gear, including investment in infrastructure and the planning process.

Mr Rhatigan said the planning process can take up to two years and this is unacceptable. "The public, house buyers and builders are not being served properly by the system."

He said An Bord Pleanala is now taking up to eight months to determine some planning applications and the board is under-resourced for the current economic climate. "They must be facilitated in getting on with their business," he said.

In the short term, this may involve using independent, outside consultants to clear the backlog, he said. "The reality is the increasing amount of demand for housing will create a greater number of planning applications and the statutory bodies must have the resources to deal with them over the longer term," he said.

Mr Rhatigan said that infrastructure zoning and density are no use unless they can be used. "They cannot be used without planning permission," he said. "To postpone the supply of housing through delays in the planning system is causing an unnecessary waste of valuable industry resources."

Mr Rhatigan told delegates that the biggest problem facing first-time buyers is the question of affordability. He said he welcomed the recent Government measures relating to housing densities, saying it would bring on a greater variety of house types and a greater number of more affordable units in most areas. He added that the availability of smaller, reasonably priced apartments and houses will reduce the upward pressure on the traditional house types.

The conference also heard details of an IHBA proposal for a shared housing scheme. It would allow home owners access to more expensive housing than they would otherwise be able to afford. Under the scheme, the home buyer would share ownership of the property with a fund backed by the Government and the developer until it was sold or wholly acquired by the home owner.

Under the scheme, the buyer would have to put up 10 per cent of the value of the property and repay the maximum mortgage available based on their income, from a financial institution. The balance would be met by the fund. In effect, the home owner would repay the mortgage and pay rent to the fund, for the part of the property owned by the fund.

The conference was also told by economist Jim O'Leary of Davy Stockbrokers that house prices would rise by up to 20 per cent this year.