Meanwhile, after months of putting their properties on the block, sellers are increasingly deciding to hold onto their assets. Whereas new offerings were triple the number of closed deals all year, at $10.4 billion, in April, just $1.8 billion in assets were put up for sale--a two-to-one ratio.

On the bright side, it's the second month in a row that fewer newly distressed assets have come onto the marketplace--$1.1 billion in April, and $8.3 billion for the first four months of the year. Still, the volume of distressed assets in the apartment sector is the second highest among all property types, with mid and high-rise and low-income properties seeing the highest rates of default among their counterparts. Further, the $14.4 billion worth of communities in potential distress or "unresolved trouble" looms over any positive steps the sector may experience.

In terms of sales, the volume of apartment property trades slowed at a lower pace than most other property types, thanks to the availability of financing for the sector from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But given the state of the financial market over the past few months, multifamily sales volume is now on par with the overall industry--down 75% to 80% on a year-over-year basis.