The busy season for home sales is winding down with a whimper while mortgage rates move closer to 7%. What's a stuck-in-place homeowner or renter to do now?

For some, the answer is redecorate. Furniture and home renovation trends have been sluggish-but high-end shoppers staying put are an exception, according to furniture retailer Arhaus. "A lot of people are putting money back into their homes as they have decided maybe not to move," CEO John Reed said during the company's second-quarter conference call in August.

"We're seeing a really nice increase in people coming in, being very serious about renovating a room or entire house," he added.

Arhaus might not be alone: a recent Bank of America Institute analysis of internal data found that "some homeowners are choosing renovation over relocation" while renters ramped up spending on furniture.

Home equity line of credit, or Heloc, utilization is on the upswing, the Bank of America report notes. Some of that spending is related to debt consolidation, but "homeowners may be using their Heloc loans to renovate instead of relocating," Bank of America Institute economist Joe Wadford wrote in the late August note.

Home improvement and furniture stocks haven't had an easy run. Home Depot and Lowe's are down 7.6% and 16.3% this year, respectively, as of Thursday's close. Furniture stocks such as Arhaus, RH, La-Z-Boy, and Ethan Allen Interiors are all lower this year as well.

The stocks have lagged behind with the broader housing market. For many would-be buyers, moving to new environs wasn't in the cards this year despite early hopes for better conditions. After falling below 6% at the start of 2026, mortgage rates began to climb right when home shopping typically picks up, and now sit just below 7%.

New home sales through the first seven months of the year are tracking below last year's levels over the same period, according to government data. The National Association of Realtors' measure of existing sales so far this year is a hair ahead of 2025's sales in the same period, though still at a low level historically.

One source of demand for furniture at a slow time for housing: apartment dwellers. Renters' spending on furniture in July rose 5.8% from the year prior, according to the Bank of America analysis-and less onerous housing costs are likely to thank. "The improvement in renters' spending likely reflects lower rent payments," Bank of America's Wadford wrote.

Well-heeled homeowners are also on the hunt for ways to freshen up a space. "The high-end has certainly been a nice bright spot in what has a generally been a pretty weak broader housing industry," says TD Cowen's Max Rakhlenko, an analyst covering home retail names such as Home Depot and Lowe's, along with furniture companies.

Big home renovation plans are stuck in place like the housing market. Consumers have been too pessimistic to embark on overhauls, despite solid financial standings, Rakhlenko says. Homeowners will fix leaky roofs and replace faulty appliances, "but the part of the market that's more discretionary-either projects or just single one-off purchases-that's where we are pressured," he says.

There's pent-up demand for renovations waiting in the wings once consumer sentiment improves, he adds. Furniture demand is seeing an early sign of improvement, with 38% of respondents to TD Cowen's consumer survey in August saying they intend to buy furniture in the coming three months-the largest share since at least early 2024, according to the report.

But, if more everyday householders consider purchasing that new couch or kitchen table in the coming months, it's still the wealthy shopping right now.

At Arhaus, "the high-end consumer continues to demonstrate resilience supported by relatively healthy U.S. economy, solid consumer spending and the positive wealth effects of higher stock prices," CEO Reed said on the call.