With a stronger than normal performance pushing September price readings, the analyst team at J.D. Power Valuation Services is projecting that October’s wholesale movements will be less than half of what was recorded during the same month a year ago.

According to their latest issue of Guidelines, analysts expect that wholesale prices of vehicles up to 8 years in age will decline by approximately 1.6 percent in October. Should that projection come to fruition, it would represent a significant change from October 2016 when J.D. Power Valuation Services found that wholesale prices dropped by 3.7 percent.

“At the segment level, car losses are still expected to outpace those of trucks and SUVs,” analysts said in the report. “Continuing the trend of recent months, losses for luxury segments are forecast to fall by slightly more than the industry average for the month.”

J.D. Power Valuation Services added that it is continuing to watch how impact from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are modifying full-year expectations. The latest update has used-vehicle prices falling by about 5.3 percent based on the J.D. Power Valuation Services’ Used Vehicle Price Index.

Last year’s move came in at a 4.1-percent softening. Looking ahead to 2018, analysts are suspecting that index-based losses to decelerate to about 3 percent.

As referenced earlier, September shook out similarly to what analysts are predicting to happen in October. The J.D. Power Valuation Services’ Used Vehicle Price Index increased 1.6 percent in September to 113.4, marking the second straight month of an upward climb.

Through the first nine months of the year, analysts calculated that the index is down 6.6 percent compared to the same stretch in 2016.

What pushed the September reading higher was wholesale prices of vehicles up to 8 years old dipping by just 1.1 percent.

“As expected, used-vehicle prices performed exceptionally well due in large part to significant decreases in supply and increase in demand stemming from disruptions of Hurricane Harvey and Irma,” analysts said in the report while adding that September prices dropped on average by 3.1 percent during the calendar’s ninth month of the past five years.

Looking at segment-level movement, J.D. Power Valuation Services indicated mainstream car losses were “mild” in September, predominantly falling into the tight range of 0.1 percent for midsize cars to 1.0 percent for compact utilities.

Within luxury units, analysts noticed losses were generally more pronounced with luxury compact utility prices dropping by the most at 2.7 percent.

“The compact utility segment continues to struggle from an influx of late-model auction volume, which has helped depress prices,” the report mentioned.

Furthermore, one luxury segment enjoyed a surprising lift as J.D. Power Valuation Services determined that prices for luxury large cars rose 1 percent in September; a month when typically the segment has declined by an average of 3 percent during the past five years.