GAINESVILLE, Ga. -

The news will come as no surprise to industry veterans, but market activity in the lanes last week began to slow, as is often seen at the turn of a new year.

According to the latest Black Book Market Insights report, last week brought with it continued higher depreciation for smaller cars.

But after a slow period to start of 2016, Black Book expects “a robust spring buying season” due in part to heavy depreciation experienced during the fourth quarter that have made vehicles more affordable for dealers.

 “Values continued their decline in the new year with higher depreciation in small cars. We are anticipating strong buying in the tax season this year after the sharp decline of car values in the fourth quarter last year,” Anil Goyal, vice president of automotive valuation and analytics at Black Book, said in the report.

Overall, car prices fell by 0.65 percent or $67, while trucks dropped off by .060 percent or $90. For both cars and trucks, these numbers were higher than the average depreciation rate seen over the previous eight weeks: 0.50 percent for cars and 0.44 percent for trucks.

Among the cars, the categories to see the biggest declines in the lanes last week were the compact (down by 1.22 percent or $15), subcompact (down by 0.96 percent or $89) and the prestige luxury (0.96 percent or $56) segments.

The best performing car segment was the midsize car category, which only saw a drop of 0.39 percent or $17 last week.

On the truck side of the market, the subcompact luxury CUV (down 1.58 percent or $151), minivan (down 1.17 percent or $91) and compact van (down 0.90 percent or $3) segments took the biggest percentage hits.

The full-size crossover/SUV segment had a good week with rates only falling by 0.10 percent, and the full-size van segment only dropped by 0.03 percent.