Plenty of places with far worse reputations than Oakland are not dropping in prices, because they didn't build. Any place will drop in prices if you keep on bu

Plenty of places with far worse reputations than Oakland are not dropping in prices, because they didn't build. Any place will drop in prices if you keep on building in advance of demand. Gentrification is more likely to come from lack of building than building. That's the story all throughout California and every other wealthy area in the US: extreme gentrification through lack of new housing. Its not the new housing that drives up prices, it's the lack of it.