Furniture retail still facing headwinds
At least the kitchens are doing fine
The German furniture retail sector did not have a year in 2025 that anyone would want to frame and hang on the office wall. The industry continues to deal with a mix of weak residential construction, cautious consumers, and growing regulatory pressure. In the end, the market shrank slightly while proving surprisingly resilient.
According to calculations by IFH Cologne, the total market volume in furniture retail (excluding appliances) slipped from €25.7 billion in 2024 to €25.4 billion in 2025. That’s a decline of about one percent. Not dramatic at first glance. But a closer look shows a market that is still largely moving sideways – with patience increasingly becoming a core business skill.
Within the individual product categories, the pattern is familiar. Kitchens remain comparatively stable and even posted a modest increase, with sales rising by 1.7 percent. In many other segments, however, the picture looks less encouraging. Upholstered furniture dropped by 2.3 percent, office furniture by 4.1 percent. Mattresses, including frames and slatted bases, declined by 2.2 percent. Garden furniture and other residential furniture categories fell by 1.1 percent.
In short, kitchens once again prove to be the most stable anchor in the market, while several other segments are still searching for direction.
For the German Furniture and Kitchen Retail Association (BVDM), the development comes as little surprise. “The figures clearly show that furniture retail continues to operate in a challenging market environment,” said BVDM President Dirk Tesch. Among the key factors he cites are weak housing construction, broader economic uncertainty, and rising regulatory requirements.
Residential construction in particular remains a major brake on the industry. Fewer newly completed homes inevitably mean fewer new kitchens, sofas, and bedrooms being purchased. As a result, the market is currently driven mainly by renovations, modernization projects, and replacement purchases – in other words, by customers who would have needed new furniture sooner or later anyway.
At the same time, consumers are becoming increasingly cautious about larger purchases. Furniture tends to fall into the category of investments that can easily be postponed for a while. Instead, spending is often shifting toward travel, leisure activities, and other areas of consumption.
Then there is the growing issue of regulation. Supply chain legislation, requirements for deforestation-free sourcing, and additional national and European regulations are adding complexity. For many retailers, that primarily means more bureaucracy, more documentation, and more administrative work – resources that would otherwise go into assortment development, customer service, or the improvement of the shopping experience.
The industry is therefore hoping above all for improved framework conditions. If residential construction gains momentum again and consumer confidence returns, demand for furniture could also pick up. Dirk Tesch puts it cautiously optimistic: under stable economic conditions, the sector could look toward 2026 with measured confidence.
Until then, however, an old industry truth still applies: people will always need furniture – just sometimes a little later than retailers would prefer.
The German furniture retail sector did not have a year in 2025 that anyone would want to frame and hang on the office wall. The industry continues to deal with a mix of weak residential construction, cautious consumers, and growing regulatory pressure. In the end, the market shrank slightly while proving surprisingly resilient.
According to calculations by IFH Cologne, the total market volume in furniture retail (excluding appliances) slipped from €25.7 billion in 2024 to €25.4 billion in 2025. That’s a decline of about one percent. Not dramatic at first glance. But a closer look shows a market that is still largely moving sideways – with patience increasingly becoming a core business skill.
Within the individual product categories, the pattern is familiar. Kitchens remain comparatively stable and even posted a modest increase, with sales rising by 1.7 percent. In many other segments, however, the picture looks less encouraging. Upholstered furniture dropped by 2.3 percent, office furniture by 4.1 percent. Mattresses, including frames and slatted bases, declined by 2.2 percent. Garden furniture and other residential furniture categories fell by 1.1 percent.
In short, kitchens once again prove to be the most stable anchor in the market, while several other segments are still searching for direction.
For the German Furniture and Kitchen Retail Association (BVDM), the development comes as little surprise. “The figures clearly show that furniture retail continues to operate in a challenging market environment,” said BVDM President Dirk Tesch. Among the key factors he cites are weak housing construction, broader economic uncertainty, and rising regulatory requirements.
Residential construction in particular remains a major brake on the industry. Fewer newly completed homes inevitably mean fewer new kitchens, sofas, and bedrooms being purchased. As a result, the market is currently driven mainly by renovations, modernization projects, and replacement purchases – in other words, by customers who would have needed new furniture sooner or later anyway.
At the same time, consumers are becoming increasingly cautious about larger purchases. Furniture tends to fall into the category of investments that can easily be postponed for a while. Instead, spending is often shifting toward travel, leisure activities, and other areas of consumption.
Then there is the growing issue of regulation. Supply chain legislation, requirements for deforestation-free sourcing, and additional national and European regulations are adding complexity. For many retailers, that primarily means more bureaucracy, more documentation, and more administrative work – resources that would otherwise go into assortment development, customer service, or the improvement of the shopping experience.
The industry is therefore hoping above all for improved framework conditions. If residential construction gains momentum again and consumer confidence returns, demand for furniture could also pick up. Dirk Tesch puts it cautiously optimistic: under stable economic conditions, the sector could look toward 2026 with measured confidence.
Until then, however, an old industry truth still applies: people will always need furniture – just sometimes a little later than retailers would prefer.