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STAMFORD, Conn. — While wholesale prices showed sequential gains for the fifth straight month in May, the rate of increase slowed down from its pace earlier this year, according to RVI Group.

Specifically, the RVI Used Car Price Index in May was up 0.9 percent month-over-month and showed a 19.8-percent upswing from the year-ago period.

"The increase in May marks the fifth consecutive month-to-month increase this year, but May's increase is well below the 2.6-percent month-to-month average increase from February through April," officials indicated.

Looking at some individual segments, full-size pickups showed the heaviest month-over-month gains in May (up 4 percent), followed by luxury full-size sedans (up 2.8 percent) and luxury midsize sedans (up 2.4 percent).

In fact, of the 19 segments included in RVI's data, all but five (luxury coupes, small pickups, luxury small sedans, small SUVs and full-size SUVs) were up from April.

Declining the most in price was the luxury coupe segment, whose values were off 3.6 percent month-over-month.

Year-over-year, all 19 segments showed gains, with full-size pickups (up 34.9 percent) experiencing the steepest incline. Luxury coupes had the slowest year-over-year gain (up 7 percent).

New-Vehicle Trends

Moving over to the new side of the market, pricing is still healthy but the slope of the incline has leveled off, RVI noted.

"New-vehicle prices remain strong, although the increases we saw in 2009 and in the first part of this year have now flattened," officials pointed out.

Specifically, April's new-vehicle transaction prices were static on a month-over-month basis. In March, prices were up 0.1 percent sequentially, which was the same marginal increase seen during February.

"Most concerning are the trends we see in the year-over-year comparison, which shows that prices are now only 2.4 percent higher than last year," RVI pointed out. "The year-over-year comparison stood at 5.1 percent in December 2009, and has been declining every month since."