diff --git a/docs/about/release-notes.md b/docs/about/release-notes.md
index 15086f1d..b0e1ef60 100644
--- a/docs/about/release-notes.md
+++ b/docs/about/release-notes.md
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ The current members of the MkDocs-NG team.
 
 ## Version 1.7.1 (Unreleased)
 
+### Fixed
+
+* Fix anchor link validation so `mkdocs build -v --strict` still fails when missing anchors are reported as warnings. #30
+
 ### Maintenance
 
 * Remove the unmaintained `mergedeep` dependency by replacing it with an internal deep-merge helper for inherited YAML configuration. #29
diff --git a/mkdocs/structure/pages.py b/mkdocs/structure/pages.py
index 1990f84d..b5115fdd 100644
--- a/mkdocs/structure/pages.py
+++ b/mkdocs/structure/pages.py
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ def render(self, config: MkDocsConfig, files: Files) -> None:
         self.present_anchor_ids = (
             extract_anchors_ext.present_anchor_ids | raw_html_ext.present_anchor_ids
         )
-        if log.getEffectiveLevel() > logging.DEBUG:
+        if config.validation.links.anchors > logging.DEBUG:
             self.links_to_anchors = relative_path_ext.links_to_anchors
 
     present_anchor_ids: set[str] | None = None
diff --git a/mkdocs/tests/build_tests.py b/mkdocs/tests/build_tests.py
index 62b6fa76..1d2461c2 100644
--- a/mkdocs/tests/build_tests.py
+++ b/mkdocs/tests/build_tests.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 import contextlib
 import io
+import logging
 import os.path
 import re
 import textwrap
@@ -769,6 +770,29 @@ def test_anchor_warning(self, site_dir, docs_dir):
         with self._assert_build_logs(expected_logs):
             build.build(cfg)
 
+    @tempdir(
+        files={
+            "index.md": "[missing anchor](#missing)",
+        }
+    )
+    @tempdir()
+    def test_anchor_warning_with_debug_logging(self, site_dir, docs_dir):
+        cfg = load_config(
+            docs_dir=docs_dir, site_dir=site_dir, validation={"anchors": "warn"}
+        )
+
+        pages_log = logging.getLogger("mkdocs.structure.pages")
+        original_level = pages_log.level
+        pages_log.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+        try:
+            expected_logs = """
+                WARNING:Doc file 'index.md' contains a link '#missing', but there is no such anchor on this page.
+            """
+            with self._assert_build_logs(expected_logs):
+                build.build(cfg)
+        finally:
+            pages_log.setLevel(original_level)
+
     @tempdir(
         files={
             "test/foo.md": "[bar](bar.md#heading1)",