Shoppers spent record amounts of furniture and lighting in December, as annual sales recorded an above inflation increase.
Consumers in England, Wales and Scotland spent £1,812,263,000, according to Office for National Statistics’ first estimate of December’s sales.
This is 14.58% higher than the previous record month of March 2022.
Sales were 18% higher than November 2022, 34.2% up on December 2021. The record month saw sales 18.3% higher than December and 20.2% higher than December 2019.
In the 444 months since January 1986, when ONS began recording comparable data, monthly sales had never before broken through the £1.6bn barrier, let alone £1.8bn.
Total sales for the year reached £16,649,619,000: a 15.1% rise on 2021.
The figures are not seasonally adjusted, do not take inflation into account and are subject to revision.