Housing Liberalisation and Gentrification: The Social Effects of Tenure Conversions in Amsterdam

Privatisation and liberalisation of the housing market are often used as governmental strategies for engineering the social composition of urban neighbourhoods. Drawing on longitudinal register data, this study reports findings from the highly-regulated housing context of Amsterdam. Through regression modelling and GIS analyses, we demonstrate that tenure conversions from rent to owner-occupancy are not just bringing about changes in social-class composition, but also affect the ethnic and demographic compositions. Moreover, conversions from rent to ownership have highly spatially-specific effects. Our evidence suggests that tenure conversions may contribute to gentrification in the inner-city of Amsterdam, while conversions in post-war neighbourhoods do not lead to a social upgrading and may even facilitate downgrading. Furthermore, trends in the converted section of the housing market are not just mirroring income developments but also seem to reflect trends in ethnic segregation and demographic trends such as a renewed interest among families to live in the inner-city.