Just to take nationalism out of it; would you feel just as screwed if they were rich banker? You don't own that land and you can't use it unless it's literally a friend of yours. So what is the actual impact? Just the language on the signs?

Interestingly this is a bit of an exceptional case; it being a bubble and all you actually have leverage. The interesting thing about real-estate is that it's not like factories; the land doesn't itself produce value. If the people of Vancouver leave and it's nothing but investment property those prices will go down. Once they begin going down, it'll be a bad investment and they'll come down a lot (pretty common bubble situation). So if you think the market put the wrong price on those houses, just don't pay it and leave. Plenty of other good cities out there.