McLEAN, Va. -

Late-model auction sales volume in the first third of the year is still up 7 percent, but it slowed last month.

According to the Used-Car Light Truck Guidelines report from J.D. Power Valuation Services, there were 244,381 auction sales of late-model vehicles in April.

That’s down 7 percent month-over-month and off 1 percent year-over-year.

That said, there have been 955,447 late-model auction sales year-to-date through April, which is up 7 percent, J.D. Power said.

Leading that crowd is the midsize car segment. Its late-model volume is at 179,500 units year-to-date, an 8-percent increase.

Compact utilities (141,800), compact cars (131,600) and midsize utilities (103,400) are also above the 100,000-unit auction sales threshold for the year.

The biggest increase through four months has been the luxury compact utility vehicle, whose late-model auction sales volume is up 51 percent at 12,600 units, according to J.D. Power.

Midsize pickups are also a high-riser in the late-model sector, with auction sales (8,800) up 43 percent through four months.

Luxury midsize cars (down 27 percent) have shown the highest decrease in year-to-date auction sales volume of late-model vehicles, followed by subcompact cars (12 percent), luxury compact cars (11 percent), large cars (10 percent) and compact cars (4 percent).

All other segments are up.

Late-model units are those 3 years or younger.

As far as auction sales volume of vehicles up to 8 years in age (for the month of April alone), that figure was relatively steady year-over-year at and down 8 percent month-over-month at 366,909 units, J.D. Power said.