The weather outside may be getting colder, but mergers and acquisitions are heating up in the home industry. Hooker Furniture just sold two brands to Magnussen Home, mattress behemoth Somnigroup is making a play for component giant Leggett & Platt, and the furniture trades tout smaller acquisitions weekly. Behind the scenes, insiders describe a flurry of activity, with buyers and sellers looking to make deals as soon as possible.

“We are extremely busy, as busy as we’ve ever been,” says Bo Stump, a partner at Stump & Company, an investment bank and M&A advisory firm for the furniture industry. “This is 100 percent a pickup in cadence and interest.”

There are always deals happening in the design industry, but the vibe shift is notable, especially as it comes on the heels of a freeze. For most of 2025, the uncertainty around tariffs stopped would-be buyers and sellers in their tracks: Every time a deal was on the verge, a new social media post from the president could send both sides scurrying back to their ledgers.

There’s much about tariffs still to be decided—notably, whether the Supreme Court will soon nullify the country-specific duties (which three courts have ruled illegal). But the relative lack of noise around trade policy since September has coaxed some buyers and sellers out into the open. “Buyers, particularly strategic buyers, feel like the worst is behind us,” says Stump. “Tariffs, if not entirely settled, have at least been digested.”

What’s more, the tariff landscape is fueling new kinds of deals. International companies who may own manufacturing operations overseas are looking to buy U.S. factories in order to avoid paying duties in the short term, and as added protection against trade or political instability in the future. “A lot of that is tariff-hedging related,” says Stump. “But also, I think just macro, they want to get into America and get their money into America.”

At the same time, though the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts have not unlocked the housing market, they are making it cheaper for companies to borrow money that can be used to finance deals. After yesterday’s cut, the key rate is now almost a full percentage point lower than it was at the start of the year, fueling a new optimism around deal-making.

That shift in mood is finally bringing buyers to the table. To some degree, sellers have been waiting all along. Despite the rocket-fueled demand of the pandemic era, it was a difficult time for most retailers and manufacturers, which struggled to deal with supply chain disruptions, angry customers and new workplace challenges. The ensuing crash was no picnic either. Now, tariffs and the looming uncertainties around how much AI will change the industry are the latest destabilizers. Many owners—especially in the furniture business—are baby boomers who were looking for an excuse to retire. The past five years have been full of them.

For those who want to keep going, simplification—offloading noncore businesses, acquiring assets that fit neatly into the playbook—is the thesis of the moment. “The strong, aggressive buyers are doubling down on what they do well,” says Stump. “The focus is on core businesses. You’re hearing CEOs say, ‘Let’s focus on what we really do well.’”

Which isn’t to say we won’t see some interesting outliers in the months ahead. As Stump makes clear, there’s simply a lot going on: “You add it all up, and there are a lot of sellers—and there are more buyers than there were a year ago.”