UPDATE 1-CBL posts Q3 FFO above Street view

* Q3 FFO $0.50/shr vs est FFO $0.47/shr

* Expenses fall 9 percent

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Real estate investment trust CBL & Associates Properties Inc (CBL.N) posted quarterly funds from operations that topped analyst estimates, helped by lower operating costs.

For the third quarter, the retail-focused REIT posted FFO attributable to shareholders of $68.4 million, or 50 cents a share, compared with $55.3 million, or 78 cents a share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average were expecting the REIT to report FFO of 47 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Expenses for the quarter dropped 9 percent to $167.2 million.

Stabilized mall occupancy rose 120 basis points sequentially to 90.3 percent.

For 2009, CBL maintained its FFO outlook of $2.28 a share to $2.39 a share.

Analysts were expecting the REIT to post 2009 FFO of $2.37 a share.

Shares of the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based company closed at $8.22 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Biswarup Gooptu in Bangalore; Editing by Anne Pallivathuckal)