CARY, N.C. -

Wholesale auction sales for the week ending April 26 marked the third consecutive sequential gain, according to J.D. Power Valuation Services, which also said sales for that period  were over twice as strong as the tally from the market’s worst week.

The firm said in its COVID-19 Valuation Services Update released Thursday that there were 39,700 auction sales the week ending April 26, up from 34,400 the prior week and 23,500 from the week of April 12.

Most notably, it is a considerable improvement from the week ending April 5, when the market reached a low point of just 18,000 auction units sold, according to J.D. Power.

Additionally, the 39,700 auction sales the week ending April 26 were 40% of what was forecasted before the virus, J.D. Power said. At the worst point of the pandemic thus far, the ratio was 20%, the company said.

(The firm notes that the figures are for units up to 8 years in age. It also indicates that “Lagging reported sales can change previously reported figures.”)

In a webinar on Wednesday, Jonathan Banks, who is vice president of vehicle valuations & analytics at J.D. Power Valuation Services, discussed the auction sales improvement.

“A lot of this had to do not with the auction channels opening up, but actually from more conversions for dealers participating in the auctions,” Banks said. “What we’ve seen here is participation rates have increased, resulting in better conversion rates. So, more vehicles being sold in the auctions.”

Discussing the same data in an interview Monday, National Auto Auction Association chief executive officer Frank Hackett was optimistic about continued gains in auction sales.

“I think as things start to open up, we’re going to see this continuing to tick up,” Hackett said. “And whatever we’ve lost, I think that pent-up demand is going to be there and we’re going to make up for it later on when things start kicking in gear.”

Likewise, the analysts at Black Book pointed out similar gains in auction volume in a report released Thursday that shows gradual improvement in year-over-year comparisons.

“The number of sales dropped dramatically (up to 80%) when most auctions closed their physical sales (and some closed entirely),”  Black Book said in the report. “After the volume bottomed out at the beginning of April, we are starting to see a rebound.”

The estimated year-over-year sales volume declines have improved from the 80% range in early April to the 40-60% range by late April, the Black Book data shows.

While no-sale rates remain high, several auctions were seeing sales rates increasing the week of April 20-26, thanks to easing or ending stay-at-home orders in some states, Black Book said.

After reaching a low of 15% the week of March 30, the estimated average weekly sales rates at auctions has risen each week since, reaching 35% the week of April 20-26.  

“Bidding activity accelerated this past week, and notable additions to the bidder lists were some of the larger players in the market, including CarMax and Carvana, who have both been relatively subdued since the beginning of the pandemic,” Black Book said in Thursday’s analysis. “This was viewed as a positive update for auction activity and to many in the industry.”

In its data, J.D. Power indicates that there had been 207,000 wholesale sales since mid-March. That’s off 480,000 units from the year-ago period and 430,000 units softer that what was forecasted before the pandemic.

But look for things to continue getting better

“We expect to see the auction results increase pretty dramatically over the next few months,” Banks said.