CINCINNATI –

The dog days of summer turned out to be the most difficult stretch of the year so far for lease approvals.

Swapalease.com reported vehicle lease credit applicants registered a 57.7 percent approval rate for August — the lowest rate the market has seen in 2016 and also the lowest rate for the month of August in the past two years.

For comparison, site officials pointed out that a year ago the approval rate reached 85.7 percent during the same month.

The monthly lease credit approval rates have been declining steadily since February. While August's approval rate is only 1.1 percent lower than July's rate, it is also only 3.2 percent higher than the lowest approval rate in 2015 and 1.2 percent higher than the lowest approval rate in 2014.

Rather than this trend serving as an indicator of a softening credit market, Swapalease.com executives believe a rising number of overall applications from increased lease interest are pushing the overall rate downward.

"Car lease credit approvals typically fluctuate throughout the year, so to see a downward trend spanning more than six months is unusual,” Swapalease.com executive vice president Scot Hall said.

“However, with lease interest at all-time highs, it is expected that the number of declines will also be added to the mix here,” Hall continued.