SANTA MONICA, Calif. –

In addition to forecasting a stronger used-car SAAR for May, Edmunds.com pointed out some other positive signs for the used market — or at least, for future supply of pre-owned vehicles — that have occurred this spring.

The company said in a sales forecast released Thursday that year-to-date lease penetration through April was at an all-time high of 27.9 percent. Not only that, Edmunds is predicting just under 1.55 million new-vehicle sales for May, which would be the strongest single-month total in seven years.

The last time dealers sold this many new cars in a month was May 2007, when they moved 1,555,945 units, according to Edmunds.

As for the used-car market, Edmunds is predicting an estimated 3.05 million used sales for May.

While this is down from 3.10 million in April, the expected used-car SAAR for the month (36.4 million) is ahead of April’s pace (35.9 million).

Other industry observers have released used-car sales forecasts for May in recent days, as well.

At CNW Research, the firm was expecting that, based on the first half of the month, May’s used-vehicle sales volume will likely approach 4.5 million units and beat year-ago figures by 1.5 percent.

In its latest Retail Automotive Summary, CNW said it was forecasting 4.46 million used sales this month, which would compare to 4.39 million in May 2013.

This would also put the year-to-date tally at just under 15.9 million, which outpaces the 15.65 million used cars sold through five months of 2013.

Meanwhile, TrueCar was calling for an estimated 3.24 million used sales for May, with a new-to-used ratio at approximately 1:2.1.