Global High-End Furniture Market 2025: 35 Cities Identified as Potential Hubs

The global high-end furniture market is expected to grow due to increasing wealth concentration, urbanization, and evolving consumer preferences. North America is the largest market, followed by Asia-Pacific and Europe. India and the Gulf countries are the fastest-growing regions. The market is driven by long-term structural trends such as growth of high-net-worth individuals, urban concentration of wealth, and evolution of consumer preferences. The market is expected to reach $145.1 billion by 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.4%.

Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the Government Pension Fund Global, announced on August 11 that it is terminating contracts with asset managers handling its Israeli investments and has divested parts of its portfolio in the country. The move follows an urgent review launched last week following media reports that the fund had built a stake in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel’s armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter jets [1].

The fund, an arm of Norway’s central bank, which held stakes in 61 Israeli companies as of June 30, has divested stakes in 11 of these companies in recent days. "All investments in Israeli companies that have been managed by external managers will be moved in-house and managed internally," the fund said in a statement. The fund will now limit its investments in Israel to companies that are in the equity benchmark index, but it will not invest in all Israeli companies in the index [1].

The fund, which owns stakes in 8,700 companies worldwide, held shares in 65 Israeli companies at the end of 2024, valued at $1.95 billion, its records show. The divestments are part of the fund’s ongoing review of Israeli companies for potential divestments, which will also lead to improved due diligence [1].

Norway’s parliament in June rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. The decision to divest from Israeli companies is a significant move for the fund, which has previously sold stakes in an Israeli energy company and a telecoms group over ethics concerns [1].

The North America Web Application Firewall (WAF) market, as reported in a recent study, is expected to expand strongly, increasing from USD 2.13 billion in 2024 to USD 6.65 billion by 2033. The growth is driven by growing cybersecurity threats, an upsurge in web-based applications, and strict data protection laws [2].

References:
[1] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/norway-wealth-fund-divests-israel-asset-management-gaza_n_689a01c9e4b07d71851cdf08
[2] https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/08/14/3133383/28124/en/North-America-Web-Application-Firewall-Market-Growth-Trends-Report-2025-2033-E-commerce-and-Digital-Services-Drive-Demand-for-Robust-Web-Application-Firewalls.html