Americans hoping to borrow money to buy a house or apartment are facing mortgage rates at the highest levels in more than 20 years.

The average interest rate on the typical 30-year, fixed rate home loan rose to 8% for the first time since 2000, according to Mortgage News Daily, which tracks rates.

The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, has been raising interest rates to try to bring down inflation.

That has pushed up borrowing costs.

Rates are up by nearly half a percentage point in just the last two weeks.

The last two years has seen a ratcheting up of interest rates, the most common strategy from central banks to curb how fast prices rise.

But in recent weeks, mortgage rates have also been affected by big swings in demand for US government debt, which is sold to investors in the form of US Treasuries.

Political chaos in Washington and rising US debt levels raised doubts about investors’ ongoing appetite for buying US debt. That prompted prices of Treasuries to fall