HIGH POINT, N.C. — New residential furniture orders dropped 8% in October compared to the previous month, and were down 1% compared to 2024's figure, according to the December issue of Furniture Insights. "However, year to date through October 2025, new orders remain flat compared to 2024.," noted Mark Laferriere, assurance partner at Smith Leonard, the accounting and consulting firm that produces the monthly report. 

Approximately two-thirds of participants reported decreases in October 2025 compared to a year ago, he said.

October shipments were up 4% compared to 2024 figures, with two-thirds of survey participants reporting increases compared to the year prior, Laferriere added. Shipments also were up 2% compared to September, and are flat for the year-to-date compared to 2024 figures. "October 2025 backlogs were down 2% compared to October 2024, and down 3% from September 2025 as shipments outpaced new orders," he added.

Receivable levels were up 4% from September, but down 2% from October 2024. Inventories were up 1% from September and up 4% from October 2024, "which are materially in line with shipments," Laferriere said.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales at furniture and home furnishings stores in October were up 2.3% compared to September, and up 0.4% from October 2024. Year to date on a non-adjusted basis, sales were up 3.8%, compared to 4.7% last month, according to December's Furniture Insights.

"Monthly new orders for participants in our survey continued to alternate back and forth between increases and decreases compared to the prior year (-1%, +7%, -3%, +13%, +3%, -1%, -9%, +1%, -5%, -3%)," Laferriere said in his executive summary of the data.

"However, year-to-date new orders and shipments through October 2025 are now even with 2024, which while nothing to write home about given calendar 2024 ended up 1% down from 2023 (which was up 5% over 2022), it is at least a positive sign given the many challenges from the first half of the year.

"And while retail has been slow," he continued, "recent industry reporting of certain key retailers shows improvement in recent months and optimism for 2026 based upon these trends and expectations of interest rates and housing for next year."