Mortgage affordability and mental healthcare use: Evidence from Finnish population registers
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Mortgage repayment may affect mental health through financial strain. We investigate the relationship between mortgage repayment, specifically its affordability, and the use of mental healthcare in Finland. We follow a cohort of adults aged 20-29 in 2002 using linked population registers (2003-2019; unit: person-year) with no ongoing mortgage and compare two outcomes: (i) psychotropic medication purchases (PMP) and (ii) hospital visits and specialised care for mental health reasons (HVM). We estimate two methodologically complementary effects: an event study that captures within-person timing dynamics and a mixed-effects model that captures population-level contrasts. The event study reveals that after the onset of high-burden mortgages, PMP rises by 0.6-0.8 percentage points over the first 3 years, whereas it remains flat or declines for those with low-burden mortgages. For HVM, changes are smaller with convergence thereafter. Adjusted probabilities in logistic models indicate a moderate increase of 1.3 percentage points for tenants compared to owners without a mortgage, once covariates are held constant. We show that affordability at mortgage onset -- rather than homeownership alone -- is a public health lever and a key factor shaping mental health inequalities, with more substantial and more persistent effects for PMP and more modest patterns for HVM; thus showing that maintaining affordable paths to ownership is not only a housing concern but also a determinant of population health.
Source: Social Science & Medicine
Language: English
Topic: Housing Market and Economics
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,800
Award: G3074171636
OpenAlex ID: W7119027257