Yorkshire Building Society has been placed in the top ten of a new list of the country's cheapest mortgage lenders.

The Society, which is based on Yorkshire Drive in Bradford, was number seven on the list of 36 mortgage lenders.

The survey, which was conducted by financial products research company Defaqto, placed firms after analysing the amount of gross interest payable on a £50,000 interest only loan.

David Anderson, Yorkshire Building Society's chief executive, said: "We are delighted that Yorkshire Building Society has once again be recognised as one of the UK's top value lenders.

"As a mutual building society our main objective is to keep all our products in the top quarter and our prominence in this table shows that's what we are doing.

"What is also pleasing is that when lenders who do not offer a branch service are excluded, Yorkshire ranks in the top three of low cost mortgage providers."

Mark Hayes-Newington, group commercial director at Defaqto, said: "An unchanged base rate and increased competition were good news for mortgage payers in 2002, particularly those able to take advantage of the many deals on offer."

The annual survey placed Egg, HSBC and Nationwide in the top three spots.

Skipton Building Society came 15th, while Bradford & Bingley came in at number 27.

Abbey National, which has its regional headquarters in Bradford, came last in the list.

The Yorkshire Building Society is the third largest building society in the UK.

It has more than a million members and assets of more than £12.5 billion.

Last year it reported profits of £67.7 million, an increase of 4.3 per cent.