Residential Furniture Sales on the Rise
June 2017According to the most recent report by Smith and Leonard, residential furniture orders rose 12% in March compared to March 2016 and 17% higher than February 2017 orders. New orders were up 77% of the surveyed participants.
Although consumer confidence looks to be positive, “Converting that confidence to more activity seems to be the trick,” said Ken Smith, managing partner at Smith Leonard. “The March results of our survey were maybe a bit higher than we expected. Though most of what we had heard prior to the High Point Market had indicated that business had picked up. With over three-fourths of the participants reporting increases in orders, those expectations seemed to carry over into what we thought was a pretty good market.”
He added, “While the overall economic conditions in the U.S. continue to be a bit sluggish, the key factors continue to be somewhat strong. While housing is off a bit, the stock market has been very strong; inflation is not bad except for energy indexes and retail in general is positive, along with good consumer confidence. All of this together should continue to produce more furniture sales along the rest of the year.”
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