Orders for new residential furniture continued their recovery in March, up 9 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest survey of manufacturers by High Point accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard.

So far this year, new orders are up 9 percent compared to the first quarter of 2009. Before the upswing, furniture sales had been declining for two years.

Shipments of existing orders were 5 percent higher in March from a year earlier and 12 percent higher than February. It was the fourth straight month of shipment increases.

Survey author Ken Smith said that while the year-to-year comparisons are made to an exceptionally weak period in early 2009, it looks like the industry is coming out of its slump.

"It will be interesting to see what the April and May results are as we should feel the impact of what was believed to be the best High Point Market in the last several," Smith said. "We continue to hear that business does seem to be picking up."