November 2016 Furniture Insights

Executive Summary

We were a bit surprised with the results of our latest survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors. In September, we had heard that business had picked up a bit, but the surprise to us was how much. The total for new orders for the participants was up 14% in September 2016 versus September 2015. While all of the participants were not up, we had numerous participants report healthy double digit increases for September. August new orders were up 5% over August 2015 after posting a 5% decline in July.

Shipments were also up nicely, up 7% from September 2015 following a 6% increase reported in August. July shipments were down 9% from the previous year.

The increase in orders and shipments brought year-to-date orders up 2% over last year and shipments were up 1%. Backlogs increased 10% from August and were up 3% over September 2015. Other than a couple of flat months, backlogs have been down compared to the same month a year earlier ever since September of 2015.

So overall, the results for the month, in total, were very good.

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