Business Environment Profiles - United States
Published: 16 July 2025
Price of household appliances
144 Index
2.8 %
The price of household appliances is represented by the producer price indexfor household appliances from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This index tracks changes in the prices that domestic appliance manufacturers receive for their products. The index has a base year of 1982.
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Household appliance prices are forecast to fall by 3.8% in 2025 to 143.97 index points, departing from the strong price gains seen earlier in the period. The primary driver of this decline is high interest rates, which suppress homebuying activity and, in turn, dampen demand for new appliances. The Federal Reserve's position on maintaining higher rates for longer to combat inflation has sustained elevated mortgage rates. Consequently, housing market activity remains muted, further easing the pressure on appliance prices despite their essential nature in households.
The prices of household appliances have been shaped by several distinct macroeconomic forces between 2020 and 2025. The emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 stimulated demand as consumers, having spent much of the previous year at home, sought to replace or upgrade depreciated appliances, fueling a 3.3% price increase. Inflation escalated as global supply chains continued to adjust post-pandemic in 2022, with manufacturers absorbing higher input costs, especially for steel and energy, which drove appliance prices up by 11.7%. This surge reflected both robust consumer demand and significant cost pressures. Although inflation persisted in 2023, higher interest rates implemented to curb inflation depressed housing starts. This policy response moderated price increases to 3.2% as consumers faced higher borrowing costs. Demand for appliances slowed further in 2024 with homebuying activity retreating due to continued high mortgage rates, resulting in a modest price growth of 0.1%. Macro trends such as global supply chain adjustments, energy price volatility, and monetary policy tightening have all been crucial in shaping these recent price dynamics. The influence of these factors became particularly evident as manufacturing disruptions and input cost volatility repeatedly translated into fluctuating appliance prices within the period.
Appliance prices ultimately rose at an average annualized rate of 2.8% from 2020 to 2025. This moderate growth balance was supported early on by a release of pent-up demand and by ongoing input cost fluctuations resulting from pandemic-era disruptions. However, trends including sustained inflation, restrictive monetary policy, and subdued housing market activity have increasingly placed downward pressure on prices as the period progressed. The enduring essentiality of household appliances has mitigated sharper declines, but the interplay between monetary policy and consumer spending has proven decisive in the overall price direction for the sector.
Household appliance prices are projected to decrease by 2.2% in 2026 to 140.77 index points as hi...
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