Originally published in the July 19, 2010 print issue of Furniture Today

$4.8 billion ?? that's the dollar amount U.S. consumers spent on home office furniture last year. Taken together, the product categories of desks and other home office accounted for 7% of the total furniture and bedding market in 2009. Other home furniture products include desk chairs, bookcases, hutches, filing cabinets and credenzas. Current buyers plan to purchase a desk and desk chair this year, the centerpiece of the home office, more than any other office products. According to the more than 8,400 U.S. consumers responding to Furniture/Today and HGTV's 2010 Consumer Views Survey, 17% of overall home office furniture buyers plan to buy a desk chair and 15% say they??ll purchase a desk. Younger consumers have an even higher plan-to-buy rate.

One-fourth of home office buyers under age 35 plan to purchase a desk this year, compared with 10% of buyers age 65 or more. Furniture Today and HGTV's January 2010 Consumer Views Survey received responses from 8,420 U.S. consumers. The survey fielded as part of HGTV's Ideas weekly e-newsletter. Because of the large sample size, the survey data can be projected within this population with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1%.

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