Furniture, home accessories and house textiles formed three of the top four performing categories in the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for July, with sales boosted by a robust housing market.
UK retail sales increased 1.2% on a like-for-like basis from July 2014, when they had decreased 0.3% on the preceding year. On a total basis, sales were up 2.2%, against a 1.3% rise in July 2014.

In the three months to July, total non-food sales grew 3.7%, showing strong underlying momentum for this category.

Online sales of non-food products in the UK grew 14.7% in July versus a year earlier, when they had grown 14.9%. The non-food online penetration rate was 17.6%, up from 16.5% in July 2014.

British Retail Consortium (BRC) director general Helen Dickinson said of the findings: "Despite being a slight slowdown compared with last month, today's sales growth of 2.2 per cent compared with this time last year reflects the continued hard work by retailers to tap into increasing consumer demand... As the labour market continues to improve and real wages show strong growth, it's no surprise our extra disposable income seems to be being spent on more discretionary purchases. Three of the four best performing categories in the monitor were furniture, house textiles and home accessories benefitting from renewed strength in the housing market."

KPMG head of retail David McCorquodale commented: "Retail sales remained positive in July as improved consumer confidence is slowly winding its way to the tills. Grocers continue to feel the heat, with like-for-like sales down 1.6 per cent in the last three months, but this is an improvement from the doldrums of last year...With the housing market up on last year, consumers took advantage of end-of-season sales to deck out new abodes with the latest homeware and furniture.

"Looking ahead, retailers will be hoping more summer sunshine coupled with confirmation that interest rates will stay at 0.5 per cent, will keep consumer confidence riding high into August."