Furniture and Mattress Demand Cools as Housing Market Struggles Continue

Originally published June 20, 2025. This version was rebuilt from NAHB and the Census Bureau's new residential construction and advance retail sales reports for the FIN archive, and the facts are as of that date.

Mid-June 2025 data showed the housing market stalling. New homes drive mattress and furniture purchases, so the slowdown carried straight through to bedding.

The short version

• NAHB's builder confidence index fell to 32 in June, and 37% of builders cut prices.
• Census said May housing starts fell 9.8% from April.

Builders cut prices

The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index fell to 32 in June, one of its lowest readings since 2012. NAHB said 37% of builders cut prices, the highest share since NAHB began tracking it monthly in 2022, and 62% used sales incentives.

The share cutting prices had climbed from 29% in April and 34% in May, and the average cut held at 5%. Builders were trading margin for traffic, which tends to pull buyers toward new homes but leaves less room in household budgets for furnishing them.

Starts drop

The Census Bureau reported May housing starts at an annual rate of 1,256,000, down 9.8% from April and 4.6% from a year earlier. Building permits, a guide to future construction, were also lower than a year earlier.

Census reported May building permits at 1,393,000 and completions at 1,526,000, both at annual rates. Completions are the nearest signal for furniture and bedding, because each finished home is a household that needs to be furnished in the months ahead.

Fewer starts in the spring mean fewer move-ins in the fall and winter, when new owners buy beds and furniture.

Stores still growing

Retail data had not turned yet. The Census Bureau's advance report showed furniture and home furnishings store sales up 1.2% in May from April and up 8.8% from a year earlier, released June 17, 2025.

Strong store sales alongside weak housing suggested shoppers were buying ahead of expected tariff price increases rather than furnishing new homes. That kind of demand tends to fade once the pull-forward runs out.

Bedding feels housing first

The mattress category tends to follow move-ins closely. With builders cutting prices and starts falling, bedding sellers had reason to plan for a slow second half.

Related on FIN

• Move-In Furniture Tickets Are Drying Up
• New Home Sales Jumped in August. Mortgage Rates Crossed 7%.

Sources

• National Association of Home Builders, Housing Market Index, June 2025
• U.S. Census Bureau, New residential construction, May 2025
• U.S. Census Bureau, Advance monthly retail sales, May 2025