This will include BDMs in the North East and North West, who will be local experts in the areas they are originating loans in.

In an exclusive interview with Bridging & Commercial, D’mitri Zaprzala, head of sales at Octopus Property (pictured above), said that it was consciously trying to increase the amount of lending it was doing outside of London and the South East.

He claimed that its regional lending figure would be at its “highest” level by a considerable distance during the financial year ending April 30th 2019.

“We’ll be looking to hire sales people as a whole, [including] property professionals who work in residential development.”

In the last 12 months, Octopus has made a conscious decision to hire people who were not based in London or the surrounding areas, but in Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff, for example.

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“So local people, local experts that really know the brokers and about the real estate markets that they’re working [in].”

D’mitri added that there are hotspots across the country which it is seeing more and more demand in, with the obvious ones being the Midlands, the North West and the South West.

Octopus currently has BDMs in the North West, the Midlands, the South West, South East and London.

It is looking to grow its lending in all major towns and cities across the UK, including Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and all locations where it has transacted signficant volumes in recent months. 

However, D’mitri claimed that there would still be more property transactions in London and the South East than anywhere else.

“This is the market we know best and, as a result, will still be where we do most of our transactions by value.

“Approximately half of my sales force is in London and the South, as we could class it, and half is outside of that.

“I would hope that, in terms of deal volume, we do similar amounts in both markets, but this is fluid and we are constantly looking at where it makes the most sense to lend money.”