This page brings together the most useful public data on timber, furniture and how Australians buy for their homes. We update it every year and every figure links to its original source. If you're a journalist or researcher, you're welcome to use any of it. We just ask that you link back to this page.
Last updated: November 2026
Key stats at a glance
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Australians spent a record $82.6 billion shopping online in 2025, up 13.9% on the year before, according to Australia Post's 2026 eCommerce Report.
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According to Australia Post, home and garden was the third-biggest online category, at $11.4 billion.
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Australia has around 134 million hectares of forest, about 17% of the country's land, according to the Australian Government.
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Australia generates about 30,000 tonnes of commercial furniture waste each year, and 95% of it ends up in landfill, according to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, via the Australian Furniture Association.
How Australians shop for their homes online
Online shopping hit a record in 2025, and the home category is one of the biggest pieces of it.
|
Measure, 2025 |
Figure |
|
Total online spend |
$82.6 billion |
|
Growth on 2024 |
13.9% |
|
Home and garden online spend |
$11.4 billion |
|
Households that shopped online |
9.8 million |
|
Average basket size |
$96, down $10 in five years |
Source: Australia Post eCommerce Report 2026, as reported by Fully Loaded and IPC.
Where Australia's timber comes from
Australia's forests are mostly native, and only a tiny share is harvested each year.
|
Measure |
Figure |
|
Total forest area |
134 million hectares, 17% of land |
|
Native forest |
132 million hectares, 98% of forest |
|
Plantations |
1.94 million hectares |
|
Hardwood eucalypt plantations |
0.9 million hectares |
|
Publicly managed native forest harvested |
0.06%, or 73,000 hectares |
Source: Australia's forest industry at a glance, Department of Agriculture.
A few timber facts people often get wrong:
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Tasmanian oak isn't oak. It's a trade name for three closely related eucalypts: mountain ash, alpine ash and messmate. Source: WoodSolutions.
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Victorian ash isn't ash. It's mostly mountain ash and alpine ash grown in Victoria. Source: WoodSolutions.
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Blackwood is a wattle. Its botanical name is Acacia melanoxylon. Source: Tasmanian Timber.
Furniture and waste
Furniture is a growing waste problem, especially as cheaper flat-pack pieces become harder to repair.
|
Measure |
Figure |
|
Total waste generated in Australia, 2018-19 |
75.8 million tonnes |
|
Household waste, 2018-19 |
12.4 million tonnes, 16% of the total |
|
Waste sent to landfill, 2018-19 |
20.5 million tonnes, 27% |
|
Commercial furniture waste per year |
About 30,000 tonnes |
|
Share of commercial furniture waste sent to landfill |
95% |
Sources: ABS Waste Account via ALGA; DCCEEW via the Australian Furniture Association.
There's very little public data on household furniture waste specifically. That's a gap, and it's exactly what a future consumer survey could fill.
Using this data
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