As if another Super Bowl appearance isn't enough, Pittsburgh has something else to crow about -- the nation's top commercial real estate market, according to one prominent New York rating agency.

Pittsburgh finished ahead of 58 other metropolitan areas, including New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, in Moody's Investors Service's quarterly Red-Yellow-Green report, which measures the health of commercial real estate markets.

Amid a deepening recession and weakening commercial markets nationwide, Pittsburgh posted the highest overall scores in the apartment, full-service hotel and limited-service hotel markets, based on 2008 third-quarter data.

It also was one of only two top 10 markets -- Raleigh, N.C., being the other -- to have greater demand than supply in the Downtown office market.

"You're starting to see Pittsburgh get its due recognition," Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato said. "In these tough economic times, we're one of the few bright spots. Moody's just gave another independent confirmation of what's happening here."

The rating comes with a bit of an asterisk, however. Moody's did not have data for Pittsburgh in three of the seven categories -- retail, suburban office and industrial -- and that may or may not have made a difference in the results.

But overall, "the latest report does suggest that the Pittsburgh commercial real estate market is looking healthier than others," said Nick Levidy, manager of Moody's commercial mortgage-backed securities division.

Jeffrey Ackerman, executive vice president of the CB Richard Ellis Inc. real estate firm, said the city's ranking was no fluke.

Despite the recession, he said Pittsburgh was faring better than other cities because of the growth of the education, health care, high technology and nuclear energy sectors in the region.

As employment in those sectors has grown, it has produced demand for housing, particularly apartments, and that has driven up occupancy and rental rates, he said.

The move of UPMC, Equitable Resources and Siemens Power Generation to Downtown has boosted the office market and also has generated more full-service hotel stays because of those coming in to do business.

Mr. Ackerman believes that the ranking has the potential to be more than a pat on the back for the region.

"When we're talking to major institutional investors and lenders they don't want to be investing money or lending money in a market that's not strong or stable," he said. "I think this would help us in continuing to attract more institutional investors and more institutional lenders into our market."

Pittsburgh was fourth in the previous Moody's report, which measures supply in the market, projected demand, the balance between the two, and vacancy rates.