ATLANTA (Reuters) - U.S. retailer Haverty Furniture (HVT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday sales at stores open more than 12 months fell 9.8 percent in March, and were off 6.3 percent for the first quarter, and its shares slid more than 6 percent.

In a statement, Haverty said written business was down about 3.5 percent from the year-earlier March. The slower U.S. housing market and tighter credit has hurt furniture sales.

Morgan Keegan analyst Laura Champine said the March decline marked the 17th-straight monthly same-store sales fall for Haverty.

"Its store base is overexposed to Florida, and we suspect that the company's financial results will continue to suffer until the Florida housing market stabilizes," Champine said in a research note.

Total sales for March fell 6.2 percent to $62 million, while first-quarter sales declined 3 percent to $185.2 million.

Analysts, on average, expected sales of $186.4 million for the first quarter, according to Reuters Estimates.

Shares of Haverty were down 6.1 percent, or 65 cents, to $10.10 in noon New York Stock Exchange trading. The stock has fallen 27 percent in the past year.

(Reporting by Karen Jacobs; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)