The Moody’s/RCA Commercial Property Price Indices national all-property composite index rose in September to 0.2 percent higher than its November 2007 level, Moody’s said. The gauge has recovered a loss of more than 40 percent since its January 2010 trough, according to the New York-based company.

Apartment complexes in large cities and office buildings in central business districts led the recovery, according to Moody’s. Higher values were driven by increased availability and a lower cost of capital, and a decline in distressed transactions. The apartment sector benefited from low borrowing costs, particularly from mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the research company said in a statement.

“Multifamily sprang back quicker, since it only had a few quarters where there was a contraction in debt available,” Tad Philipp, director of commercial real estate research at Moody’s, said in a telephone interview. Other property types “took longer to come back because the liquidity took longer to come back.”

Apartment prices now exceed their pre-crisis peak by almost 18 percent, Moody’s said. In the past year, the best-performing core commercial property type has been office, with prices increasing almost 18 percent. Retail prices have had smaller gains, with a 5.3 percent increase in the past 12 months.