The increase in lease returns isn’t just helping franchised dealers shore up their used-car supply.

Apparently, it may also be leading to a lift in transaction prices for these dealers, according to the latest analysis on October used-vehicle sales from CNW Research.

“Transaction prices rose more than 16 percent at franchised dealership to $15,678 thanks to a growing inventory of late-model off-lease vehicles,” CNW president Art Spinella said in the report summing up last month’s used-car market.

“Total value of franchised sales (based on core transaction prices) rose to $19.45 billion, up by 18.7 percent compared to a year ago,” he added.

That likely comes as welcome news to franchised dealers, whose used unit sales were up 2.2 percent year-over-year in October but are essentially flat year-to-date through 10 months.

Throughout all channels (franchised and independent dealer sales plus private-party transactions), the total value of used sales in October was at $33.27 billion.

The average transaction price when considering all three sales types was $10,523, CNW said.