Much like the ups and downs of the housing and stock markets, acoustic piano sales fluctuate between good times and bad.
Way back in 1909, more than 364,000 acoustic pianos were sold. Jump into the future nearly 100 years and sales have dropped to 50,000. So is it just the fluctuating market? Saturated households? Too much competition from gaming? Partly, but due to these factors, dollars that would have been spent on uprights and grand pianos are moving towards the considerably less expensive and portable (not to mention easier to keep in tune and often more versatile) electric pianos you now see used at concerts.
According to the 2014 NAMM Global Report, piano sales were bolstered by the significant upswing of the U.S. housing market since 2013. As sales of single-family homes advanced 8% in that year, the value of acoustic piano sales increased 4% to about $300 million. While unit volumes were down, retail sales of grand pianos advanced more than 4% to 11,870 units. Electronic piano sales were up by almost 7%.
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