SecProbe.io

May 20, 2008

Mail Stop 4561  Mr. Joseph R. Ficalora Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer New York Community Bancorp, Inc.  615 Merrick Avenue Westbury, New York 11590
Re: New York Community Bancorp, Inc.
 Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2007
 Filed February 29, 2008
Form 10-Q for Fiscal Quarter Ended March 31, 2008
 File Number: 001-31565
  Dear Mr. Ficalora:
 We have reviewed your response to our comment letter dated April 10, 2008 and
have the following comments.

 Form 10-K, filed February 29, 2008

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, page 84

1. We note your response to comment three from our letter dated April 10, 2008.
Specifically, you state that it was your intention to hold the $1.4B in loans acquired from PennFed as held for inve stment.  Please address the following:

• provide us with copies of your Asse t and Liability Management Committee
meetings from November 2006 through June 2007, which support your assertion that that you intended to hold these loans and therefore classified
them as held for investment;
• tell us where you have reflected the remaining $1.4B of loans sold (net of the
$823M) in your statement of cash flows; and
• tell us how classification of  these loans as held for investment is consistent
with the paragraph 8(a) of SOP 01-6.  Sp ecifically, tell us how considered the

Mr. Joseph R. Ficalora
New York Community Bancorp, Inc.  May 20, 2008 Page 2
period of time from your acquisition to  the subsequent sa le of these loans
demonstrates your ability and intent to hold these loans for the “foreseeable future.”

Form 10-Q, filed May 12, 2008

Note 3. Securities, page 7

2. We note your tabular presentation of the amortized cost and estimated market
values of your available-for-sale securiti es as of March 31, 2008.  We also note
the disclosure of your expectation to  recover the unrealized losses on these
securities within a reasonab le period of time through a typi cal interest rate cycle.
As it relates to your corporate bonds ( unrealized loss of $20.1M), capital trust
notes (unrealized loss of $12M), and pref erred stock holdings (unrealized loss of
$10.1M) as of March 31, 2008, please tell us the following for each of security:

• the specific issuer and name of each security held;
• the initial and current cr edit rating, as applicable;
• the severity and duration of  each unrealized loss; and
• how you considered the financial conditi on and near term prospects of each
issuer, including any specific events which may have existed or occurred
previously which influenced your deci sion not to record an other-than-
temporary impairment.
 If not otherwise provided in your respons e, please explain the reasons for the
significant increase in the unrealized loss pos ition of these securities as of March
31, 2008 as compared to December 31, 2007.

 As appropriate, please respond to these co mments within 10 business days or tell
us when you will provide us with a response.  Pl ease furnish a cover letter that keys your
response to our comments and provides a ny requested supplemental information.
Detailed cover letters greatly facilitate our review.  Please understa nd that we may have
additional comments after reviewin g your response to our comments.

You may contact John Spitz, Staff Accountant at (202) 551-3484, or me at (202)
551-3492, if you have questions regarding these comments.
Sincerely,

 John P. Nolan Accounting Branch Chief