From housing prices to depressive symptoms: Serial mediating roles of subjective social status and status anxiety

Housing is increasingly recognized not only as a pivotal socioeconomic asset but also as a positional good that signals social status. While previous research mainly focused on the economic benefits of absolute housing wealth, few studies examined the psychosocial influence of relative housing price position on mental health. To address this research gap, this study investigates the association between neighborhood housing price rank and depressive symptoms through the serial mediating roles of subjective social status (SSS) and status anxiety. Housing transaction records were combined with survey data from 539 homeowners in seven metropolitan cities in South Korea to conduct serial mediation analysis. The results demonstrate that higher housing price ranks are significantly associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms, mediated by higher SSS and lower status anxiety levels. Notably, this association is insignificant for absolute housing prices. These findings underscore the positional nature of housing; specifically, positionality within the city-wide housing market hierarchy is significantly associated with mental well-being. Consequently, these findings suggest that policies may need to incorporate public health strategies to address status-related anxiety and psychological distress associated with relative position within local housing market hierarchies.