What I noticed in my area was a slight uptick in buyers, lookie-loos at auction houses about a year and a half to two years after the storage auction TV shows. It didn't last long, maybe six months, and I attribute it to storage auction newbie wash outs who were looking for another way to get into the re-sale game.
Generally at the auction houses now it's mostly dealers/store owners with some collectors and the occasional retail customer looking for something for their home. As far as prices go, I believe the market has been flat for awhile if not trending downward if you compare prices of furniture and household goods sold at auction to food, gas other things in the retail marketplace. Then again, I was speaking with one of the owners of a local antique store who acquires her inventory from auction houses and she feels prices are still too high. That tells me the retail consumer/end customer is not paying any more now for furniture, collectibles, household goods then they were a few years ago.
I sell furniture at auction houses and it seems to me prices are flat. No growth in realized prices today compared to several years ago. The difference is Craigslist customers (in my area) are trending downward on what they are willing to spend and in many cases furniture and household goods sold at auction houses is now meeting the same price level as selling on Craigslist. It use to be auction houses was the fast money but you were going to take a 50% hit or more compared to selling it yourself on Craigslist. Currently, those numbers are coming closer together.