Split the Difference - second home ideas

[NickCQ]

Like many of us, lockdown has caused me to think a bit more deeply about where I want to live and why.

I live in west London / work in central London, but during lockdown I've been camping out at my parents' place in Surrey (outer stockbroker belt), which has been rather nice (they are away). I couldn't hack a 1hr each way commute with my current working hours though (and assume WFH will not continue).

Pre-lockdown, the plan was to buy a 3-4 bed place near where I am at the moment (renting, have accepted an offer on my old flat), which I suppose would have been about £1.3-1.5 MM depending on how much space we decided to go for. The big issue there is about £95k of stamp duty (6.3%), as the 10% marginal rate above £925k is quite painful. That's 3.5x the annual rent we are paying now for a comparable place - I don't think this would be a 'forever' home (5-10 years max).

It looks like even with the 3% additional stamp duty rate I could actually pay about £20k less tax by buying a London place for £925k and then getting somewhere for weekends for about £600k. Hopefully the weekend place would be a longer-term hold and I could upgrade / move around in London as time passes.

Has anyone done this? All thoughts welcome.

[NickCQ]

Thanks for the views chaps, all helpful.
Kids are not on the menu at the moment but you never know how views on that will change.

If the rumoured stamp duty holiday around £500k does come to pass it makes this plan potentially more attractive.