Auction sales of rental and construction equipment continue to rise as March totals averaged 4.7 percent higher than February forced liquidation values (FLV), the April Rouse Rental Report says. Also according to the report, used equipment values went up again for the month of March, as did January rental rates year over year.
Rouse recorded 3,731 units that sold at 35 separate auction sales conducted across North America. The units represented a combined FLV (as of March 31st) of $85.6 million and generated $89.6 million of gross auction proceeds.
The Rouse report also states that March orderly liquidation values (OLV) for used equipment across the 14 major rental category indices tracked by Rouse increased 1.1 percent from February values. For the six months ending March 31st, 2012, average index values increased 5.3 percent. Nine out of 14 category indices recorded one-month value increases ranging from 0.1 percent for rolling compaction equipment to 5.3 percent for excavators.
In other news, January 2012 rental rates increased 6.5 percent relative to the same period last year for the rental companies participating in the Rouse Analytics Rental Metrics Benchmark Service. Rates declined 0.2 percent relative to December 2011. Rouse Analytics calculates rental rate change weighted by prior period activity in accordance with the American Rental Association (ARA) Rental Market Metrics standard.