CARY, N.C. -

The potential risk to used-car values from increases in off-lease volume and lease penetration rates is something that Alec Gutierrez is keeping a close watch on.

The KBB senior analyst doesn’t see much of a dust-up yet, but there could be potential for gradual “downward pressure” on used values a couple years down the road.

However, one benefit from these upward leasing movements has been the impact on certified pre-owned, Gutierrez said during a conference call with the media on Friday, speaking to reporters along with AutoTrader.com senior analyst Michelle Krebs.

“I think that is part of what’s been driving the strength in the certified pre-owned market,” he said. “There’s a much higher availability of these 1- to 3-year-old off-lease units, which dealers have luckily found there’s been plenty of consumer demand to scoop up.”

Or, as Krebs put it: “There’s been this incredible hunger for good used cars, because we didn’t sell many new cars during the recessionary years.”

She continued: “There has been a dearth – of course, the prices have been higher, the mileage is high. There is this hunger in the market for newer used cars, these off-lease types of cars.”

That has been evident on the consumer-side with CPO sales this year, including July numbers for various brands that began to trickle in on Friday.

Hyundai, for example, had its best-ever month for certified sales, moving 8,490 CPO units.

This was a 26.1-percent year-over-year increase and pushed the year-to-date sum to 54,342 CPO sales (up 23.1 percent).

Volkswagen also had its best July ever for certified sales, despite year-to-date numbers being 8.6 percent lower. VW moved 8,126 CPO units for the month, compared to 8,114 certified sales a year ago.

At Mazda, its certified numbers for July came in 12 percent higher at 3,637 sales. Through seven months, it has moved 24,289 CPO rides for a 15-percent increase.

Audi, meanwhile, increased its CPO sales from 3,252 units in July 2013 to 4,116 in the most recently completed month. Year-to-date certified sales (25,943) are also beating year-ago numbers (22,437) for Audi.

There were 9,114 Mercedes-Benz certified pre-owned sales for the month, a 14.3-percent increase. Through seven months, there have been 66,686 CPO sales, a 17-percent hike.

The CPO programs at Ford moved a grand total of 23,000 units in July and have sold 154,957 cars year-to-date. For Lincoln, it was 2,213 certified sales in July and 14,575 sales throughout seven months.

There were 20,787 Ford/Lincoln CPO sales in July, and there have been 140,382 sales year-to-date.

In July sales conference call notes posted to Toyota’s U.S. media site, company executives estimated the Toyota brand’s CPO sales at 31,000 units for the month and the Lexus brand’s CPO sales at 6,000 units.

At BMW Group, there were 16,884 sales of BMW used vehicles, a tally that includes CPO and pre-owned units and marks a 12.6-percent year-over-year increase. Through July, there have been 114,823 sales for a 13.1-percent hike. 

As for the group's MINI brand, it had its best July on record for used sales (again, including CPO and pre-owned) with 2,115 units sold (up 7.1 percent).

Yearly sales stand at 14,454 units (up 17.5 percent).