Federal down-payment assistance programs are not charity. They are demand subsidies that unlock a specific buyer pool — households with adequate income but insufficient savings — and funnel that cohort toward new construction, where entry-level inventory is concentrated and developers control the pipeline. When Congress or HUD lowers the FHA annual mortgage insurance premium, or when a down-payment grant program reduces the cash-at-close barrier, the transaction cost of buying a new sub-$400,000 home drops materially. That cost reduction does not accrue evenly across the housing market. It concentrates in the hands of the builder that has spent decades engineering its product, lot strategy, and financing platform around exactly that buyer.