Surprisingly, multifamily financing has been the least affected by single-family housing troubles and is also now rated stronger than other commercial sectors, Woodwell said, noting that renters overtook owners in household growth last year.

"Location matters, the property matters," Woodwell said. "We've had this rising tide lifting all boats, and now we're going to start to see some differentiation."

Although the downturn in commercial mortgage-backed securities is limiting lending for multifamily projects lately, Woodwell pointed out that the delinquency rate on such loans is less than 1% across all lending groups--including banks, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, life insurers and CMBS.

During the MBA CREF conference, Freddie Mac announced it purchased a record $44.7 million in new multifamily business transactions last year, 55% more than in 2006 and including $3.7 billion targeted affordable housing products. Mike May, Freddie Mac senior VP of multifamily sourcing, attributed the increase to "a mid-year exit of conduits from the market."

Duncan pointed to a slowdown in private-payroll numbers, combined with a slight increase in national unemployment, are causes of concern for the possibility of a recession occurring in months to come. It's too soon to tell whether the Bush administration's economic stimulus proposal, or another anticipated Fed interest-rate cut of 25 or 50 basis points, will have any preventive impact, he said.

"There is a 50-50 chance that we are in a recession. I think it's because economists have two hands."