There is an element of truth in what you call hyperbole.
Gordon Brown (in the treasury) produced a report to see how UK could integrate with the EU. The output was basically that the UK economy is not flexible enough.
A very large portion of the UK's GDP is based on housing and housing services. The amount of debt on UK housing is astronomical.
Table 1.5 line "Mortgage equity withdrawal" is particularly revealing: in the other countries it's negative, indicating that people are building up home equity, whereas in the UK it's positive, indicating that people are turning house price rises into spending money through financialisation.
Because we have a single-generation home ownership culture. In Germany and France, most people rent their whole lives and never own. In Switzerland (not EU I know but just for example) you get a 100-year mortgage and pay it off over 3 generations. This is NOTHING to do with an oil sheik buying a £10M mansion - he is not even in the same property market as you are.