To ask if this was actually a mistake? (House purchase)

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In 2021 I owned a home with a 100k mortgage. It was valued at 285 and I sold for exactly that. I was overpaying the mortgage massively (600 a month repayment and then 500 a month extra). I worked out that within 5 years I could have paid it off in full, alongside some savings I also had.

Instead… I bought a home in 2022 with a 300k mortgage. Even though I am in the best loan to value category with the bank, my repayments are now 1,300 over 25 years. Obviously if the rates still stay high in the next 5 years then I may struggle to repay at all and have to sell.

I was encouraged to make this move by family who have made a lot on climbing the ladder with their homes. I did want to move somewhere bigger and this house is twice the size of the first one but I can’t help thinking it would have been better to have stayed put?! I could almost have paid it all off now but instead I am lumbered with this huge mortgage and I don’t have much more equity to show for it, so I haven’t gained by buying a bigger house have I?

I must have misunderstood you. I don't know what you mean by a lifetime mortgage. I just had a standard mortgage with a 25 year term on the Bank of Ireland mortgage and a standard mortgage with a 17 year term on the Virgin Money mortgage. This latter one started out as a standard discounted rate variable as that was the best deal at the time. When it expired, I fixed the interest rate for the remainder of the term, which at the time was 15 years, with 13 remaining now.

This is pretty much what I've done with houses previously.

I always planned to have everything paid off by the time I was 60 or thereabouts. Hence I chose the term of the mortgage to achieve this although the Trussterfuck last year has changed the job market significantly. And the housing market too which is royally screwing with my plans.