The home industry continues to have its struggles—maybe you’ve heard of them? There’s the soft housing market, higher costs caused by rising raw material prices, and tariff chaos, not to mention a consumer whose priorities lie outside the home at the moment.

But the latest results from some of the big national home retailers show that things are not as terrible as you’d expect. In fact, some of the chains are reporting surprisingly robust numbers for the most recent three-month period, generally not one of the strongest seasons on the furniture calendar.

Wayfair, for one, reported a healthy 7.4 percent gain in revenues for its first quarter, even as it remains mired in red ink—albeit less of it—on its bottom line. Regional chain Havertys saw a 6.4 percent gain in written orders for the quarter, including a comp-store comparison up 4.3 percent compared to the same period last year. And Bed Bath & Beyond, less furniture-centric but still a player in bigger-ticket items with its ownership of Overstock and now Kirkland’s, showed its first year-over-year revenue gain in nearly five years, a 7 percent gain in sales for its first quarter.

RH, which reported several weeks ago and thus was basing its business on a slightly earlier time period, saw overall revenues increase 3.7 percent in its fourth quarter, though the company formerly known as Restoration Hardware was punished by Wall Street for missing analyst forecasts.

And earlier this spring, Williams-Sonoma reported a 3.5 percent year-over-year gain in revenues for its fourth quarter, again reflecting a slightly earlier time period than some of the more recent filings—but still good numbers. In a similar time period, La-Z-Boy, which is increasingly taking ownership of what were once licensed or franchised retail outlets, showed a 4 percent gain in revenues for its third quarter.

Not everyone in the home business had good news to report. Ethan Allen’s Q3 net sales were off about 4 percent year over year, while its retail net sales were essentially flat. Floor & Decor saw a comp-store sales decline of 3.7 percent for Q1, and overall net sales declined 0.7 percent. And Arhaus in its just-reported results also saw essentially flat revenue for the first quarter, but its same-store sales fell 5.7 percent, versus only a 1.5 percent decline a year ago.

What’s to be made of all these financial results? First off, it can’t be ignored that much of the increase in top-line sales came from a factor that has nothing to do with retailers doing more business.

Prices are simply higher than they were a year ago, with estimates putting wholesale price increases in the 5 to 15 percent range. With the tariff merry-go-round impacting different sourcing nations at different rates (and often at different times), the reality is that even as dollars increased for the quarter, it’s quite possible that unit sales did not.

There’s also the fact that the economy is seeing some small upticks in the housing market in a few areas around the country as fluctuating mortgage rates are causing prospective homebuyers to seize an opening when they see it, knowing it could close just as quickly as it opened.

One also has to wonder if homebuyers have simply gotten tired of waiting. Many have sat patiently for two and even three years for mortgage rates to go down, and are perhaps coming to the conclusion that now is as good a time as there’s going to be for the foreseeable future. Who knows—they might be asking themselves—what is going to come along that could make things even worse when it comes to buying a home, not to mention the furniture you put into it?

It’s a difficult dynamic to quantify, and maybe part wishful thinking, but the latest financial results suggest there’s something keeping cash registers ringing.

Maybe it’s the same mindset that caused last month’s High Point Market to feel more positive than many had thought leading up to it: Yes, business is tough, but maybe it’s not as tough as it could be. And right now the furniture business will take any shred of optimism it can lay its hands on.

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Warren Shoulberg is the former editor in chief for several leading B2B publications. He has been a guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; received honors from the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Fashion Institute of Technology; and been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other media as a leading industry expert. His Retail Watch columns offer deep industry insights on major markets and product categories.