Furniture retail sales increased during December on last month as well as rising against an annual comparison.

According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, furniture and lighting retail sales rose 13.9% to £1.64bn from £1.43bn in November. Compared to the previous year, sales were up 10.1% from £1.48bn.

Floorcovering retail sales decreased month-on-month, down by 33% to £163m from £243.5m. Compared to the same time last year, sales fell by 29.8% from £232.3m.

Retail sales volumes (quantity bought) are estimated to have risen by 0.4% in December 2025, following a fall of 0.1% in November 2025. As for the value (amount spent), this was up 31.5% month-on-month to £60.5bn.

Total sales volumes rose over the month to December 2025. Non-store retailers rebounded, with online jewellers confirming renewed demand for precious metals, following a lull in November 2025.

With the monthly series, online sales values rose by 1.8% over the month to December 2025, and by 11.1% when comparing December 2025 with December 2024.

Total spend (the sum of in-store and online sales) rose by 0.8% over the month. As a result, the proportion of sales made online rose from 28.0% in November 2025 to 28.3% in December 2025.

Commenting on the retail sales figures up to December, ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said: “The last three months of the year saw a slight drop in retail sales following a strong third quarter, with supermarkets and online stores both down.

“However, sales were up in December, with internet retailing doing well. Within this, online jewellers had a strong month and told us there was higher demand for gold and silver.

“Across 2025 as a whole, retail sales saw a second consecutive annual rise after the large falls of 2022 and 2023, but volumes still remained below their pre-pandemic level.”