As commercial real estate fundamentals begin to stabilize, it's possible that lenders that have resisted tackling those issues up until now will feel as though some of that pressure is off. But Seyfarth doesn't see that happening. "Sitting on a large portfolio of nonperforming loans isn't necessarily the best long-term strategy," he says.

On the contrary, Seyfarth says, the stabilization of fundamentals could lead to more agreement between buyers and sellers. "Investors so far in pricing loans have assumed that things were getting worse," he says. "But if an investor thinks that things have hit bottom, that's going to help on the pricing side."

When that agreement, and increased lender willingness to get into the market, begin to materialize, investors will be ready. More than half the respondents to E&Y's survey believe that conditions in the NPL market will be favorable enough for them to enter this year, and almost 40% expect to enter the market sometime after June 1. Two-thirds of respondents say they'll each have up to $500 million available for purchases, and about 5% will have more than $500 million to bring to the table.

In terms of loan type, nearly 75% of investors surveyed say they prefer distressed whole loans backed by office, industrial and multifamily properties. About a third of investors favor distressed residential loans, including single-family and condo loans as well as acquisition and development and construction loans. Some investors also want hotel, CMBS and land loans, but none are looking for residential MBS loans, according to E&Y. Click here to access the complete survey.