Furniture Industry News Roundup. Sales Trends, Housing Completions, and Labor Concerns

Originally published September 18, 2024. This version was rebuilt from the Census Bureau's retail and new residential construction reports and ILA statements for the FIN archive, and the facts are as of that date.

The week of the Fed's September 2024 meeting brought official August data. Furniture stores were still shrinking, but the housing pipeline was full, and the port strike threat was growing.

The short version

• Census said furniture and home furnishings store sales fell 0.7% in August.
• Census and HUD said August completions were 1,788,000, 30.2% above August 2023.
• The ILA said a strike at 12:01 am on October 1st seems more likely.

Furniture sales trends

The Census Bureau's advance report showed furniture and home furnishings store sales down 0.7% in August from July and 0.7% below August 2023. Total retail and food services sales rose 0.1% to $710.8 billion and were 2.1% higher than a year earlier.

Correction. The original edition described furniture sales as showing signs of recovery. The Census data showed another monthly and annual decline.

Housing pipeline

Privately owned housing starts rose 9.6% in August to an annual rate of 1,356,000. Completions ran at 1,788,000, 9.2% above July and 30.2% above a year earlier.

A surge in finished homes is usually followed by furniture purchases as buyers move in, a potential lift for the fall and winter.

Potential East Coast port strike

On September 5 ILA delegates backed a call for a coastwide strike on October 1 if no agreement was reached. On September 17 the union said a strike seems more likely as time is running out to settle a new Master Contract with USMX.

Furniture importers using East and Gulf Coast ports faced the choice of bringing goods in early, rerouting to the West Coast or waiting.

Conclusion

Sales were still soft, the housing pipeline was strong and the port deadline was close. Furniture businesses were preparing for both an upturn and a disruption at the same time.

Related on FIN

• Furniture Store Sales Fell 2.7%. Every Other Category Grew.
• The Freight Mafia's New Playbook

Sources

• U.S. Census Bureau, Advance monthly retail sales, August 2024
• U.S. Census Bureau and HUD, New residential construction, August 2024
• International Longshoremen's Association, Wage scale delegates back call for October 1 strike (Sept. 5, 2024)
• International Longshoremen's Association, Rank and file ready to strike on October 1 (Sept. 17, 2024)