CINCINNATI -

Even though lease credit approvals are down slightly this month, rates remain unusually high, prompting analysts to discuss the factors behind the surge.

According to Swapalease.com, lease credit approvals fell to 75 percent this month, down a bit from the 80 percent mark reached in October.

But even with that slight decline, the approval rates for the year improved to 72.4 percent, which the company shared is a “healthy mark for credit approvals.”

And over the last three months, the site reported the lease credit approvals rate of 80.4 percent is the highest Swapalease.com has ever seen. With this in mind, Swapalease.com management wasn’t surprised to see rates slip a bit this month after 90 days of unusual strength.

This market strength prompted Swapalease.com to look into patterns into where and how the credit approval rate has spiked so high in the second half of the year.

One reason Swapalease.com analysts think approval rates are on the way up is the leasing might be attracting “a different type of shopper profile."

One factor the site is looking into is the fact that more electric vehicle buyers have been leasing at higher rates.

According to a CNBC report, excluding Tesla, lease penetration in the EV market is at 75 percent this year. Back in 2011, leasing only represented 27 percent of the market.

For comparison, leasing penetration across all car segments sits at just 28 percent, according to Edmunds.com.

“So often we focus on the broader economy to see if there is a correlation with the lease credit approval rate,” said Scot Hall, executive vice president of Swapalease.com. “While this is an important indicator, we’re always looking to see if there are other reasons, such as different demographics leasing more or, as was the case earlier this year, the impact student loans may have on car shopping.”