Average wholesale used vehicle prices in Canada were up again for the week ending on March 12, with the car segment increasing 0.15% and trucks/SUVs up 0.56%, according to Canadian Black Book’s latest Auto Market Update.
In comparison, the car segment was up only 0.4% for the week ending on March 5, while trucks/SUVs were up 0.48% during that period. The overall market was up 0.26% then, rising 0.09% for the week ending on March 15 to reach 0.35%.
“This week’s performance was much better than seasonal norms (2017-2019) for the overall market, with truck/SUV segments again leading the strong market performance,” said CBB in its update, adding that cars picked up momentum with a strong up-tick in prices that was “much stronger than historical performance (2017-2019)”
Most car segments revealed a weekly increase, with full-size cars leading the positive performance with a +1.21% increase, followed by sub-compact cars (+0.99%) and compact cars (+0.38%). Sports cars were up as well (+0.25%), along with mid-size cars (+0.24%), premium sports cars (+0.12%), and near luxury cars (+0.11%).
The prestige luxury car category, however, was down -0.20%), as were luxury cars (-0.13%) — the only two segments that experienced softening in prices this past week.
The truck/SUV segment outperformed historical weekly price changes (2017-2019) that are now resulting in “a strong up-swing in prices almost identical to last fall’s strongest weekly performances,” said CBB.
Minivans continued to lead the segment with the largest weekly increase at +1.15%, followed by compact crossover/SUVs (+1.08%), sub-compact luxury crossovers (+0.74%), and compact vans (+0.70%). In fact, all segments experienced a positive week — although the compact luxury crossover/SUVs category (+0.13%) offered the weakest performance for this period.
Listing prices continued an upward trend from the previous week (14-day moving average, approaching $24,850). Prior to last week, average listing prices seemed to be softening, but the 28-day moving average is catching up to the daily and 14-day trends, and CBB said they are now seeing increases. The analysis is based on around 130,000 vehicles listed for sale on Canadian dealer lots.
“We continue to remain optimistic on our expectations for retail prices, as seasonal trends would point to a continued increase in prices as we head into the Spring market,” said CBB. “There is still uncertainty around the impact of current stay-at-home orders and social distance measures, and the degree to which these measures may cool off the Spring selling season.”
Once the stay-at-home orders in Ontario are lifted, CBB expects retail demand to increase, with a positive impact on prices. And the potential impact from the chip shortage on new vehicle inventory is likely to push used vehicle demand up — leading to stronger retail prices in the short-term.
Read the full report.
