Furniture retailers are ramping up their presence throughout the country as they ride the wave of the wealth effect, thanks to the buoyant housing renovation and new developments markets.
The lower interest rates have also put some extra cash into the household budget and with outbound tourism slowing, consumers are opting to upgrade their home interiors.
While there remains pressure on goods that cane be sourced online, bulky items such as soft furnishings are experiencing a new wave of demand.
This is leading to a rise in large-format retailers looking for new property space.
The sale of the Masters hardware business is expected to unlock some sites in which groups such as Aventus Property, the country's biggest listed large-format group, will be interested.
In the latest retail sales data, furniture sales grew 4.2 per cent year on year versus 4 per cent in the prior 12 months, while, things such as hardware and electronics sales continued to contract.
The project leasing retail executive, Colliers International's Joshua Bush, said the surge in retail spending within this sector has meant more and more furniture and homeware businesses spending large sums of money on high-profile showrooms, with excellent exposure to advance their brand position from the competition.
Misura Interiors has just done this with its latest retail showroom at Divercity Village, Waterloo in Sydney's East, where Mr Bush secured a 306-square-metre showroom boasting premium ground-floor space with a street frontage of 50 metres.
Mr Bush and Viet Ngo of Colliers International negotiated the lease on behalf of Misura Interiors.
"Savvy furniture and homeware retailers no longer want to play second fiddle to the large franchises in homemaker centres, or be tucked away in back-street industrial estates," Mr Bush said.
He said there had been a spike in inquiries for space in Divercity Village from several well-known furniture-homeware showrooms looking for 300-800sq m of retail showroom space.
He is also working with Coco Republic, which is on the expansion path.
"The benefits of high-profile, street-frontage showrooms are second to none, with many retailers reporting their walk in clientele improving dramatically."
This trend has also been noticed in other areas in Sydney with Style Craft, relocating from a back street in Darlinghurst to a high-profile premium 1000sq m showroom at 100 William Street in Darlinghurst.
In Melbourne, furniture retailers such as Plush and Fantastic Furniture recorded strong sales growth throughout the first half of the 2016 financial year, with 18.8 per cent and 19.2 per cent increases respectively.
Nick Scali and Harvey Norman have also benefited from strong sales growth, recording increases of 30 per cent and 7.6 per cent for the 2016 financial year.
CBRE head of large-format retail Chris Parry said furniture retailers were capitalising on this strong growth, with a number of groups targeting expansion opportunities in the Victorian market.
"The aggressive growth from furniture retailers is a result of strong trade witnessed throughout the household goods market, with a 4.8 per cent increase recorded in the year to May 2016," Mr Parry said.
Demonstrating the trend, Melbourne brand Koala & Tree has eased the final 986sq m vacancy at GPT's Maribyrnong Homemaker Centre, being its sixth Victorian outlet. Chris Parry and Tom Perkins of CBRE negotiated the agreement, with rents in the Maribyrnong showroom precinct in Rosamond Road ranging from $250-$330 a square metre net per annum.
"The expansion of Koala & Tree reflects the recent strong performance and growth of furniture retailers across Victoria, which has continued since 2015 when furniture groups emerged as the most active retailer category," Mr Perkins said.
The Maribyrnong Homemaker Centre showroom represented the last of Far Pavilion's Victorian sites to be re-leased, after the retailer went into voluntary administration in July. The other four tenancies were in Bendigo, Nunawading, Frankston and Springvale.
Fair Price Furniture has committed to its seventh store, taking a 1080sq m showroom at Northland Homemaker Centre in Preston on a five year term.
"Demand for showrooms in Preston are currently at an all-time high," Mr Parry said.