LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

As the upbeat atmosphere in the lanes continued, two trends caught the attention of Black Book editors last week.

The latest Black Book Market Insights report indicated luxury segments are seeing increased depreciation so far in 2017, and compact cars are feeling the run-up to the spring selling season with stronger-than-average retention since the beginning of the year.

“All luxury segment accumulative depreciation rates for the first six weeks of 2017 are larger than that of their respective segment averages,” said Anil Goyal, senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics at Black Book.

Looking at volume-weighted data, editors determined overall car values decreased by 0.22 percent last week. That’s the best weekly retention rate since May of last year. They added all but two car segments had better week-to-week depreciation rates.

In car segments, Black Book noticed prestige luxury, luxury, near luxury and full-size segments declined the most, dropping by 0.69 percent, 0.42 percent, 0.35 percent and 0.26 percent, respectively.

Again examining volume-weighted information, editors computed that overall truck values decreased by 0.36 percent last week. At this time last year, they said the average depreciation rate was 0.14 percent.

As what as the buzz in the lanes, Black Book’s personnel reported plenty of positive news from dealer, especially out West. In Nevada, the lane watcher said, “Healthy market here with several dealers announcing records retail sales for January.”

In Tennessee, dealers are making final preparations to have the inventory they need when shoppers arrive with funds from the IRS as the observer said, “Good market trend here with buyers stocking up for tax time.”

In neighboring Georgia, a similar refrain played out as Black Book’s auction visitor said, “Dealers were willing to step up and pay today for the ones they really needed.”

Staying in the South, Black Book’s representative in North Carolina offered more insight into what dealers wanted coming down the lanes, saying “Good auction today with most buyers looking for that $10,000 or less price range.”

And finally in Pennsylvania, it was the case where Black Book noticed, “Good weather with normal consignment at this location made pretty much an average sale day.”