Swapalease.com’s inaugural quarterly leasing report paints a mostly rosy picture of the lease market.

Most brands saw search activity fall during the third quarter as compared to the second quarter,  with a few domestics brands, such as Chevrolet and Ram, seeing gains. Swapalease expects that to reverse in the fourth quarter as holiday shopping accelerates.

When looking at brand activity on a year-over-year basis, domestic brands saw more gains than European and Asian ones. Volkswagen took a big hit in the wake of its emissions scandal, with searches down 28 percent.

When Swapalease examined Q3 searches by brand as a percentage of total site traffic, BMW and Mercedes led at 15 percent and 12 percent, respectively. This was in keeping with previous trends on Swapalease. Domestic brands also showed strength, whereas many Asian brands (Toyota notwithstanding at 6 percent) saw lower search traffic, which Swapalease attributed to these brands’ “unfriendly lease policies.”

When asked whether they’d rather lease a domestic or foreign vehicle, 69 percent of respondents expressed a preference for the latter.

Americans had an average lease payment of $469.41 during Q3. The average monthly lease for a Mercedes-Benz was $783.27; for Subaru, it was $327.70.

The average number of months remaining for all vehicle lessees in Q3 was 23.2, vs. 21.5 for the same period a year ago. Miles remaining averaged 23,149 during Q3, vs. 22,279 a year ago. Incentives averaged $673, vs. $641 year-over-year.

Gender-specific findings:

Broken down by vehicle type, more men than women are leasing hybrids and luxury vehicles, while more women are leasing small and midsize cars as well as utilities. Toyota and BMW tied for the most popular brands for women, while BMW and Ford were the most popular brands for men.

When it came to reasons for exiting a lease, most men cited reasons based on wants, while most women gave reasons based on need.

For example, 28.1 percent of men (vs. 20.3 percent of women) reported “desired brand change, while 53.1 percent of women cited income change (vs. 41 percent of men).

Some disparity was seen by gender on average monthly lease payment. Among luxury lessees, for example, women had an average payment of $471.38, while men’s payment averaged $687.23.

Other findings:

• A majority of respondents (25.5 percent) said they would like their maximum monthly payment to be between $300 and $399.
• Fewer than half (45 percent) of respondents would opt to stay with their current brand for their next lease. Thirty-two percent were unsure.
• Nearly one quarter (24.5 percent) of respondent said their household is leasing two or more vehicles.