CARY, N.C. -

Year-to-date auction volume through the first seven months of the year is up more than 5 percent from comparable weeks of 2012, according to the latest Economic Dashboard from the National Auto Auction Association, while the average price at auction is down 3 percent (for comparable weeks).

The report — prepared by NAAA economist Ira Silver — breaks down several indicators, which include auction volume, average prices, new-vehicle sales, used-vehicle sales and retail consumer spending both for the month of July and year-to-date totals through July.

Auction volume (against comparable weeks of 2012) was up 10.1 percent in July, while the year-to-date sum increased 5.2 percent. Auction average price (versus comparable weeks) was down 1.5 percent in July.

Real consumer spending was up 2 percent from July 2012; year-to-date, it climbed 1.9 percent.

New-car sales jumped 11.1 percent year-over-year in July. Through seven months, they were up 8.6 percent.

Citing CNW Research, NAAA indicates that used-vehicle sales fell 0.4 percent year-over-year in July, but the year-to-date sum remained ahead of last year’s pace by 1.9 percent.

Based on the first 15 days of August, CNW Research is projecting that the current month will be a “solid” one for used-vehicle sales.

The combination of retail metal turning at franchised and independent dealerships as well as private-party transactions should push this month’s total at least 3 percent higher versus year ago.

According to CNW’s August Retail Automotive Summary released earlier this month, should the firm’s projection come to fruition, this month’s used-sales figure would climb to 3.98 million, up from 3.87 million the industry posted during the same month last year.

“For the first time this year, all channels appear in lockstep in terms of the year-over-year gains and pretty much match the full-year to date increases versus 2012 through August,” CNW president Art Spinella said.

If August pans out as CNW forecasts, it would leave the year-to-date total for used sales at 28.7 million units, a 3.1-percent uptick from the same span last year.

Meanwhile, in an analysis released this week, TrueCar expects there will be about 3.45 million used sales this month, with an estimated new-to-used ratio of 1:3.

Staff Writer Nick Zulovich contributed to this report. Joe Overby can be reached at joverby@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.