If there's anything more disconcerting than the rapid rate of growth in distress totals, it's what RCA calls "the very modest rate" at which troubled situations are being resolved. Although $60.5 billion of troubled assets have been added YTD, just $4.1 billion have been resolved this year. "In far more situations, modifications and short-term extensions are being granted, but these can hardly be considered resolved, only delayed," according to RCA.

Looking at the sales picture, RCA says sales of significant office properties in May were up 70% from the previous month. That spike is less dramatic than it might seem, given the low volume of sales, but RCA calls it "welcome" nonetheless. Dollar volume rose over April, with 30 properties trading at $5 million or more, including four properties and one portfolio that traded at levels above $50 million each.

Since February, sales of both CBD and suburban office properties have stabilized at a 70% year-over-year rate of decline. "This conformity suggests that transaction volume is likely at its low point, and hopefully the rise in deals under contract signals that it is poised to reverse direction," according to RCA.

Also up on a month-to-month basis are industrial sales, although RCA says the transactions market's monthly average of $440 million is "a fraction of its former self." Slightly higher on a monthly basis were apartment sales, although the $481 million hat closed in May was off 46% from April and marked the slowest month in this sector since RCA began keeping count. A smaller percentage decline was seen in retail property sales, but with the month managing just $418 million in transactions, it was one of the slowest on record.