Furniture retail sales increased during September on last month while also rising against an annual comparison.

According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, furniture and lighting retail sales rose 28% to £1.47bn from £1.14bn in August. Compared to the previous year, sales were up 6.5% from £1.38bn.

This marked the highest sales value so far this year, ahead of January’s figure of £1.46bn, as well as a second straight month of growing sales.

Floorcovering retail sales increased month-on-month, up by 27% to £247.5m from £194.6m. Compared to the same time last year, sales fell by 12% from £281.5m.

Retail sales volumes (quantity bought) are estimated to have risen by 0.5% in September 2025, following an increase of 0.6% in August 2025. As for the value (amount spent), this was up 24% month-on-month to £48.6bn.

Total sales volumes rose over the month to September 2025, marking the fourth consecutive monthly rise and bringing volumes to their highest level since July 2022. Non-food stores (the total of department, clothing, household, and other non-food stores) rose by 0.9%. Among other non-food stores, computer and telecommunications retailers grew strongly.

Sales volumes for non-store retail also rose in September 2025, hitting their highest level since February 2022. A notable contributor to this rise was online jewellers reporting a strong demand for gold.

The amount spent online, known as “online spending values”, sales values rose by 1.4% over the month to September 2025, and by 5.6% when comparing September 2025 with September 2024.

Total spend (the sum of in-store and online sales) rose by 0.7% over the month. As a result, the proportion of sales made online increased from 27.8% in August 2025 to 28.0% in September 2025.

Commenting on the retail sales figures for September 2025, ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said: “Retail sales rose quite strongly in the latest quarter and were at their highest level since summer 2022. Although food stores saw very little growth, good weather in July and August boosted sales of clothing, while online retailing also did well.

“Retail sales also grew over the month of September, with tech stores seeing a notable rise in sales, while online jewellers reported strong demand for gold.”