The most affordable mortgages come from lenders outside the top ten in almost three-quarters of cases, according to data from Mortgage Broker Tools.

The mortgage platform said that in 73% of cases “the best option for customers who want to maximise their affordability is from a lender outside of UK Finance’s list of the top 10 lenders on nearly three-quarters of cases”.

The firm launched its affordability tracking tools in 2019, covering almost 100 lenders. Its search criteria tools have been used by over 15.5 million customers, according to the platform’s website.

The findings from MBT follows a survey earlier this week from rival platform Mortgage Brain, which said 58% of brokers rarely use an affordability calculator from a non-top 10 lender.

MBT chief executive Tanya Toumadj says: “The UK mortgage market is wonderfully competitive and diverse environment, which means there is usually a good solution for a client if you know where to look.

“Often the best option is not found in the most obvious place and brokers who confine their research to the top 10 lenders risk missing out on the most suitable choice for their client.”

Lloyds Banking Group with a 17.2% share of the market is the biggest lender in the UK, according to the latest data from UK Finance published last August, covering the year to 2019.

The bank was followed by Nationwide, with 12.6% and NatWest Group taking 12.5%.

The remainder of the top ten lenders are: Santander UK, Barclays, HSBC, Virgin Money, Coventry Building Society, Yorkshire Building Society and TSB Bank.

Gross mortgage lending in 2019 came in at £268bn, a 0.3% fall on 2018’s figure.