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Oakland apartment rent growth highest in US

Businesses and residents, priced out of neighbouring San Francisco, are drawn to an increasingly vibrant scene

San Francisco

THE city by San Francisco Bay with the fastest-growing rents in the US isn't San Francisco.

Oakland, long synonymous with crime and blight, is attracting businesses and residents priced out of its more famous neighbour to the West and drawn to an increasingly vibrant scene.

"This is one of the few places I've ever been where on a daily basis you see changes," said Lucy Flood, a 35-year-old freelance writer who rents work space in a converted Mazda dealership. "San Francisco rents are so high. It's cheaper to be here. It's considered edgy and hip and cool. There are just more people moving here."

Oakland had the highest apartment rent growth in the US, at 9.1 per cent in the year ending...

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