Vancouver journalist Frances Bula didn't name any names. But she still managed to raise some intriguing questions on her blog about how some of her peers in the media have been covering real estate.

Under the headline "Why you should be wary of stories saying 'census proves rich Asians live in mansions and pay no taxes' ", Bula quoted experts to suggest that it's "dangerous" to draw inferences too quickly.

"We sometimes forget how many basement suites, special-needs homes, and social housing are secretly sprinkled around the city, even in the poshest areas," Bula wrote.

She also noted that in Dunbar, 19 to 23 percent of residents are tenants.

Her article linked to stories written by Ian Young, Justin McElroy, and Douglas Todd suggesting that wealthy Asian homeowners weren't paying taxes.

Bula pointed out that there was a federal government policy until December 2014 that allowed wealthy immigrants to put money into offshore trusts for five years to avoid paying taxes.

So in effect, she reported that if people weren't paying taxes, it was because they were encouraged not to do so by the Canadian government.

That subtlety has been missed in the spate of stories appearing in various Vancouver media outlets.

Another Vancouver journalist (and Straight contributor), Ng Weng Hoong, has also taken aim at stories playing up some sort of foreign takeover of real estate. 

In an article on the New Canadian Media site, Ng tore apart some of the underpinnings of yellow-peril real-estate journalism.

He pointed out that Vancouver does not have the second-most unaffordable housing market in the world.

Local commentators who've cited research by Illinois-based Demographia fail to note that it left 184 countries in the world off its list, which meant that major cities like Shanghai, Mumbai, and Dubai weren't included.

Ng has also pointed out that local real-estate writers have neglected to take into account the impact of central bankers' quantitative easing on housing markets.

After the Globe and Mail's Kathy Tomlinson cited Landcor research to reinforce the meme that Chinese immigrants are avoiding taxes, Ng pointed out that her article only included data concerning 250 homes in expensive West Side neighbourhoods over two years. He called this a "puny number".

The writer who's likely most responsible for whipping up Vancouverites' concerns has been the Vancouver Sun's Douglas Todd. 

For the most part, Chinese Canadian community leaders have not gone public with concerns about his articles, which consistently undermine confidence in immigration, diversity, and multiculturalism. This was so even after Todd wrote an unflattering article about philanthropist and former lieutenant-governor David Lam.

When the Straight's Craig Takeuchi wrote a lengthy article questioning Todd's propensity for linking homophobia to race, Todd jumped into the comment thread to defend his work.

That devolved into an intriguing back and forth between the two writers over Todd's decision to overlook Honolulu when he called Vancouver the "most Asian major city outside Asia".