The ratings agency said the gains in September and October followed significant declines the prior three months. For the first 10 months of the year, prices rose five times and fell five times.

Analysts said October's gain occurred despite the second-highest level of distressed loans in the history of Moody's commercial property price index with 30% of the repeat-sale transactions.

"We expect commercial real estate prices to remain choppy until transaction volumes pick up, indicating that the bid-ask spread for commercial real estate has begun to tighten," analysts said.

Moody's said prices declined 34.4% the past two years and are off nearly 42% since peaking in October 2007.