The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Ottawa will allow first-time home buyers to take out 30-year mortgages for newly built homes. The Globe's Rachelle Youglai writes that this move comes in response to political pressure to ease the country's current housing crisis. The longer period of amortization has been suggested by the real estate industry as a way to make mortgage payments more affordable. This change in the mortgage rules will apply to home buyers who require mortgage insurance and have made a down payment that is less than 20 per cent of the property's purchase price. However, it will be limited to those purchasing newly-built homes and not for those purchasing existing properties. This is the first time in over a decade that the Canadian government has relaxed its mortgage rules. These rules have become increasingly stringent over the years, in order to protect banks from mortgage defaults and to ensure that homeowners can manage their debt loads. Presently, borrowers with an insured mortgage are only allowed to take out a loan with a maximum 25-year amortization. It is unclear how much the longer amortization period will help first-time home buyers as it only applies to new builds.