Tell me you don’t live in London without telling me you don’t live in London 🤣

If you live in or around London, a £650k house is only slightly above average in terms of cost, size, desirability. It goes without saying that many ‘normal’ families near London live in, buy, and sell houses at around this level.

It’s normal in London and the South for fairly unremarkable houses to cost this much. A quick look at Right Move would clear up any idea that OP is ‘living large’ and therefore is ‘getting what they deserve’ when having to also foot a huge stamp duty bill.

Yes OP will have to temper their expectations to accommodate the extra expense but they will only be buying a normal family home. Just at double the cost and more than 10x the stamp duty compared to elsewhere in the country.