CARY, N.C. -

There was a 15.1-percent month-over-month drop in late-model auction volume in April, but comparisons with last year are starting to even out a bit, according to the latest Guidelines report from J.D. Power Valuation Services.

April’s late-model auction volume was down 1.6 percent year-over-year, with year-to-date figures down 2.8 percent, according to the report.

Compare that to March, when late-model volume was off 11.7 percent year-over-year and the year-to-date sum was 5.3 percent lower.

Similarly, in February, there was an 11.5-percent year-over-year drop in late-model auction volume, with year-to-date figures down 5.8 percent.

“Year-over-year volume is growing with each passing month and we should observe a transition soon of an increase in overall volume compared to last year,” J.D. Power analysts wrote in the report.

Separately, J.D. Power Valuation Services looked at used-car supply trends in detail as part of its spring Perspective report.

In that report, analysts project a 4.1-percent year-over-year hike in the total supply of used cars up to 5 years old in 2018. There is likely to be a 14.2-percent increase in the crop of off-lease units, in particular, which remain the key catalyst to supply growth.

Retail purchase supply is likely to grown 2.6 percent, with rental and commercial volume falling about 3 percent — which would be the first “material decline” for that crowd in four years, according to J.D. Power.

All this follows last year’s 7-percent growth in supply of used cars up to 5 years. Off-lease was up 13.5 percent in 2017.

For more analysis from J.D. Power Valuation Services, see the podcast below with Jonathan Banks, the company’s vice president of vehicle analysis and analytics, recorded at NADA Show 2018 earlier this year.