Are home furnishings sales improving along with home sales?
BY BILL FREEHLING Furniture manufacturers and retailers are hopeful that the recent uptick in housing sales will translate to more traffic on showroom floors. Housing sales are crucially important to people selling furniture, as home buyers often need furnishings. So the recent advances in housing, both locally and nationally, are good news for those in the furniture business. “That will have a direct effect on home furnishings sales,” said Mike Pierce, spokesman for the National Home Furnishings Association in High Point, N.C. “That’s the key to the whole thing.” The Fredericksburg-area housing market over the past few months has mirrored a national trend–falling prices leading to higher sales volumes, with foreclosures and sales of lower-end homes leading the way. There were 1,287 homes sold through the Multiple Listing Service in the Fredericksburg area in May, June and July, compared with 1,012 during the same three-month period in 2008. That’s a 27.2 percent jump. Powell’s Furnit
