UBS AG cut its forecasts for earnings and price targets for three Malaysian property companies, including SP Setia Bhd, as real estate sales declined and economic growth is expected to slow next year.

"We have seen three declines in Malaysian property sales over the past decade and this coincided with a sharp fall in" gross domestic product growth, Colbert Nocom, an analyst at UBS, told Bloomberg News. Stock price targets and profit forecasts were cut "to reflect our view of slower economic growth in the second half of 2008 and full year 2009."

UBS slashed profit forecasts at Malaysian real estate companies it covers by 24 percent as property sales will probably fall 5 percent next year. Major developer SP Setia was cut to "sell" from "neutral" by UBS.