This paper investigates the income levels and income developments of in-migrating, out-migrating, and sitting households in gentrifying neighborhoods in Amsterdam over a 10-year period (1999–2008). First, to analyze these data, this paper discusses the impact of institutional and housing market contexts on the residential mobility patterns of households and subsequently discusses the outcomes of gentrification processes. The general Continental-European context and the specific context of Amsterdam are highlighted in particular. We argue that in highly regulated markets, marginal gentrification can form an important process of neighborhood upgrading. This contrasts the gentrification stage model. Second, using a unique, individual-level longitudinal dataset, we show that gentrifying neighborhoods in Amsterdam arguably form cases of marginal gentrification. Recent in-migrants possess incomes that are structurally lower than the incomes of sitting residents. However, in-migrants experience significant incumbent upgrading after moving in, more so than the sitting population. The Amsterdam housing market, dominated by social-rental housing, is key to explaining these mobility patterns. Yet, a gradual liberalization of the social-rental stock could arguably contribute to more mature forms of gentrification. Over the past decades, the gentrification literature has been extended conceptually and geographically. New and ample attention has been given to the discussion on what gentrification actually implies (in different contexts), what the drivers of gentrification are, which consequences are related to the process of gentrification, and who benefits and suffers from these consequences (Rérat et al., 2010).

This paper contributes to that debate, in particular by assessing the potential impact of the institutional context on residential-mobility dynamics in gentrifying neighbourhoods. Even though gentrification has, in a wide range of contexts, emerged as a popular policy instrument to enhance the attractiveness of disadvantaged neighbourhoods and the competitiveness of cities (Smith, 2002; Uitermark et al., 2007), state involvement can simultaneously contribute to a reduction of negative effects resulting from the process (Van Gent, 2013). Despite a growing interest in the context-dependent dynamics of gentrification (Lees, 2012), interpretations of gentrification (implicitly and explicitly) continue to be dominated by Anglo-Saxon contexts, which reflect specific institutional arrangements.