RCA says troubled commercial properties have more than doubled as of the end of May, with the value of assets in default, foreclosure or bankruptcy now exceeding $107 billion; $56 billion of that total is new this year. T.S. Eliot once called April "the cruelest month," and thanks largely to the bankruptcy of General Growth Properties, that has proven to be the case in commercial real estate, with April adding a record $19.5 billion in distressed assets. Much of that total was due to the bankruptcy of General Growth Properties, an event that RCA says accounted for $13.5 billion of the April total.

When GGP is removed from the equation, April and May averaged $5.5 billion of new distressed assets per month. However, RCA says June is shaping up to be "among the worst of the year," with more than $10 billion in newly defaulted mortgages already recorded for the month.

Most troubled of all sectors is hotels in terms of both the number of newly added troubled assets (894) and YTD increase (216%), RCA says. The bankruptcy of Extended Stay Hotels is a major factor. In retail, the dollar totals are higher--$17.8 billion added YTD and $31.2 billion total--but the YTD increase is lower at 133%.