UNEXPECTED demand for new and converted properties at a North Yorkshire housing development has led to a further phase being planned for this year.

St Anne's Convent, Richmond, has undergone a £4m transformation, creating 42 houses and apartments.

More than 60 per cent of the apartments were reserved before the work got under way, and in the past 18 months all the remaining properties have been sold.

Charltons Estate Agents, which is acting as selling agents for the former girls' school, has moved to reassure disappointed apartment hunters in the area and has announced that a further five apartments will be developed for release later this year.

The two and three-bedroomed apartments are built to replicate the design of the existing chapel, and there has already been keen interest in them.

The site was first marketed in the summer of 2000, prior to its official inauguration by Richmond MP, and then leader of the Conservative Party, William Hague.

Carlbury Developments, the developers of the St Anne's Convent site, are now looking forward to their next project in the County Durham market town of Barnard Castle.

The details of the new project are being kept under wraps for the time being.

That development will start in the summer, with Charltons again acting as selling agents.

Mike Charlton, principal of Charltons Estate Agents, said: "The demand for properties at the St Anne's Convent site has been phenomenal, and is a prime example of how strong the market in Richmond has become.

"We are expecting the new phase of the development to sell very quickly and with house prices in the area continuing to rise these apartments will be a valuable investment for the future.

"Properties are now coming on to the market for the second time and are seeing an increase in value on the original price of more than 25 per cent."

Mr Charlton added: "A great deal of credit has to be given to the forethought of the site's developers, Carlbury Developments.

"They have invested a great deal of money into this project, and have given the housing market in the Richmond area an added boost.