According to the newest installment of Black Book’s Market Insights, wholesale prices softened another 1.19% last week, prompting analysts to wonder when buyers and sellers will find “middle ground” in the market.

Black Book explained its reasoning, as its estimated average weekly sales rate remained at 54% during the week that closed two days before Halloween and the finish of October.

“It was another stable week in the lanes last week. Inventory is still available and consistent, but there has been a noticeable increase of if sales and no sales,” Black Book said in the report. “This could mean that there is room for negotiation between sellers and buyers and hopefully, they will reach some middle ground soon.

“Buyer count remains stable, which could potentially mean that buyers are patiently waiting for sellers to soften their floors,” analysts continued. “There are still minimal signs of flood vehicles coming through, but announcements of flood vehicles from the recent hurricane are expected. In addition, with vehicle delinquencies increasing, an uptick in repossessions may make their way to auction lanes soon.

“Some model-year 2023 vehicles are popping up in the lanes, which is no surprise as more model-year 2024 launches and vehicle announcements are coming out. Newer used vehicles (model-year 2018 to model-year 2020) values seem to be slightly increasing, although overall, wholesale values are continuing to decline,” Black Book went on to say.

On a volume-weighted basis, analysts discovered overall car segment prices decreased more than the total market, sliding by 1.47% with all nine car segments declining again last week.

In fact, Black Book noticed five of the nine car segments posted a price decline of more than 1%, including:

—Subcompact cars: down 3.68%

—Midsize cars: down 2.55%

—Full-size cars: down 1.72%

—Prestige luxury cars: down 1.54%

—Sporty cars: down 1.35%

Also of note, Black Book mentioned values for premium sporty car softened another 0.43%.

In the truck department, analysts said their volume-weighted data showed overall truck prices decreased 1.05%, with all 13 segments moving lower.

Like among cars, Black Book noticed five truck segments sustained a value drop of more than of 1%, including:

—Subcompact crossovers: down 2.46%

—Minivans: down 2.50%

—Midsize SUVs: down 1.43%

—Subcompact luxury crossovers: down 1.35%

—Compact crossovers: down 1.33%

Analysts mentioned the rate of value decline for full-size pickup slowed as the latest drop was 0.31%, compared to 0.51% during the prior week.

“The fourth quarter is when the market traditionally experiences the largest declines of the year, and this year is following the same path. The month of October is finishing up with some large declines as retail demand remains soft and many sellers continue to hold firm on their floors, while others accept the changes in the market and allow their vehicles to sell at the current market rate,” Black Book said.