The furniture and home goods market is growing, partially as a result of the growth in existing home sales and the strong construction market. We've seen these trends contribute to the growth in the ceramic tile market as well.

However, millennials in particular are influencing some key trends in the furniture market. And they're not the ones buying and remodeling homes. 

According to Coresight Research, more millennials are renting and would rather spend less on furniture. Here are some of the reasons why:

• The rising cost of living (especially in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York) and rising school debt have made buying a home unaffordable for many millennials. It also means they're looking for more affordable furniture and home goods instead of luxury designer brands.
• Millennials are delaying getting married or starting families, which has contributed to the increase in apartment living and single-person households. Following this trend, smaller apartments and homes have become more popular, as well as smaller and multifunctional furniture with storage solutions.
• Online retailers have become the main resource for shoppers. Millennials  tend to explore different brands and make more purchases online. Furniture manufacturers should look at this as an opportunity to sell products to online retailers that are not limited to physical geographic areas.

At Crux Systems, we've been seeing more shipments from overseas furniture manufacturers to the U.S. According to Furniture Today, China is the largest producer of wood and upholstered furniture for the U.S.  market at $13.65 billion, followed by Vietnam ($3.9 billion), Canada ($1.37 billion), Mexico ($1.14 billion), and Italy ($769.8 million).