Octopus Property has announced three new appointments to its regional sales teams.

New business development managers (BDMs) are Samantha Graydon in the Home Counties, Michelle Walsh in the West of England and Chris Timms in the Midlands.

The lender is targeting the increasing number of property professionals looking to benefit from the favourable returns available from property investment and development outside of London and the South East.

Graydon (pictured) joins from Castle Trust, where she was instrumental in growing the loan book in the Midlands and the North. In her new role, she will be driving the residential, commercial and development broker relationships.

Walsh joins Octopus from Together, where she raised brand and product awareness amongst intermediaries in the South West. Prior to Together, she worked at Barclays for over 10 years in several different operational and sales roles.

Timms has 10 years’ experience in financial services, most recently working as a BDM for Together, covering the Midlands.

D’mitri Zaprzala, head of sales at Octopus Property, said: “Recruiting and retaining the industry’s brightest talent is vital for Octopus, and we’re pleased to welcome these three new BDMs to the business. Their regional expertise will help us offer a local service to brokers, while helping to build long term, trusted and personal relationships.

“We pride ourselves in not having any geographical limits or quotas that stop us from lending in specific areas, and this is aligned with the growing demand we are seeing from borrowers outside of London.

“Samantha, Michelle and Chris all have an in depth understanding of what is driving local markets, and we’re confident they’ll help us expand and strengthen our intermediary network as we target £1bn of lending over the next 12 months.”