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From Home Furnishing Business
Smith Leonard Reports Furniture Insights for June
July 8,
2026 by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry 
Smith Leonard has released their Furniture Insights report for June 2026. New orders were down 4% compared to the prior month of March 2026, but up 3% compared to April 2025. Year to date, new orders remain even with 2025.
April 2026 shipments were down 6% compared to March 2026 and flat with April 2025. Year to date, shipments are down 1% with 2025. April 2026 backlogs were down 1% compared to March 2026 and flat with April 2025. Receivable levels were down 5% from March 2026, and down 8% compared to April 2025.
Inventories were flat with March 2026, but up 4% from April 2025. Mark Laferriere and Patrick Willis, Tax Partners Payrolls were down 2% compared to March 2026, but up 1% compared to April 2025. Employee levels are again materially in line with recent months and the downward trend from prior year.
Consumer Confidence
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® inched up by 0.6 points to 91.2 (1985=100) in June, up from a downwardly revised 90.6 in May.
The Present Situation Index—based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions—fell by 3.0 points to 116.4.
The Expectations Index—based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions—rose by 3.0 points to 74.4.
“Consumer confidence inched up in June as falling oil prices in recent weeks provided some relief to consumer inflation fears,” said Dana M Peterson, Chief Economist, The Conference Board. “Consumer appraisals of current business conditions were slightly more positive compared to last month. However, perceptions of the current labor market softened measurably as the percentage of consumers saying jobs were ‘hard to get’ rose to 22.5%, the highest level since January 2021 (22.8%). Moreover, consumers anticipate little change in the labor market six months from now. This was offset by improving expectations for business conditions and incomes.”
Consumers’ plans to buy big-ticket items over the next six months improved slightly, shifting from “no” to “maybe”, and the proportion saying “yes” picked up modestly. Buying plans for autos continued rising on a six-month moving average basis in June. Homebuying expectations also rose on a six-month rolling basis. Consumers planning purchases six months ahead continued to rank furniture followed by smartphones as the most desired items, but expectations for both categories moderated further in June.
HIGHLIGHTS – MONTHLY RESULTS
New Orders
According to our latest survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors, new orders were up 3% in April 2026 compared to April 2025. Approximately two-thirds of participants reported increases versus decreases in April compared to a year ago.
New orders were down 4% compared to the prior month of March 2026.
Year to date, new orders remain flat (0%) compared to the same period last year (same as last month).
Shipments and Backlogs
April 2026 shipments were flat (0%) compared to April 2025. Accordingly, shipments in April were up for approximately one-half of the participants compared to the prior year. Shipments were down 6% from March 2026.
Year to date, shipments remain down 1% compared to the same period last year (same as last month). April 2026 backlogs were flat (0%) compared to April 2025 and down 1% from March 2026.
Receivables and Inventories
Receivable levels were down 5% from March 2026 and down 8% from April 2025. Inventories were flat (0%) with March 2026, but up 4% from April 2025 continuing the trends from recent months.
Factory and Warehouse Employees and Payroll
The number of factory and warehouse employees were again down 5% from April a year ago, and down 1% with the prior month. Payroll expense was down 2% in April 2026 compared to March 2026, but up 1% compared to April 2025. Year to date, payroll expense remains up 1% compared to the same period last year.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FROM MARK LAFERRIER
Continuing the trend from 2025, new orders continue to alternate between monthly gains and losses in 2026 compared to 2025 so far for the participants in our stats program, which does little to provide the consistency or momentum the industry has been craving as a whole for some time.
Consumer confidence, housing, and other economic indicators also remain mixed as uncertainty driven in part by current world events continues. During its June meeting, the Fed opted to keep rates steady under new leadership based upon their assessment of prevailing economic trends.
Tariff refunds under IEEPA have continued to slowly flow, while the industry anxiously awaits what will happen next, with initial reports of 10-12.5% on over 50 countries. So this seems to be shaping up to be another challenging year, but nothing the industry hasn’t experienced and overcome many times before.