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                        EXHIBIT 99(b)    PRESS RELEASE



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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



                                                Ilene A. Angarola
                                                Senior Vice President
                                                Investor Relations
                                                (516) 683-4420

                       NEW YORK COMMUNITY BANCORP, INC.
          ANNOUNCES UNDERWRITERS' EXERCISE OF OVER - ALLOTMENT OPTION


      Westbury, New York, May 9, 2002 -- New York Community Bancorp, Inc.
(Nasdaq: NYCB) today announced that the underwriters of the Company's public
offering of 5,100,000 shares of its common stock have exercised their
over-allotment option to purchase an additional 765,000 shares at the price of
$29.00 per share. New York Community Bancorp will issue a total of 5,865,000
shares of its common stock at $29.00 per share, for net proceeds to the Company
of approximately $162.7 million.

      Lehman Brothers and Salomon Smith Barney are the joint book-running
managers and joint lead managers together with Sandler O'Neill & Partners, L.P.
Co-managers for the offering are Advest, Inc., Janney Montgomery Scott LLC and
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. Copies of the prospectus supplement and the
accompanying prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained from Lehman
Brothers, Salomon Smith Barney and Sandler O'Neill & Partners, L.P.

      New York Community Bancorp, Inc. is the $9.3 billion holding company for
New York Community Bank, and the eighth largest thrift in the nation, based on
market capitalization at March 31, 2002. The Bank serves its customers through a
network of 114 banking offices in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland and
Westchester counties, and New Jersey, and operates through six divisions: Queens
County Savings Bank, Richmond County Savings Bank, CFS Bank, First Savings Bank
of New Jersey, Ironbound Bank, and South Jersey Bank. In addition to operating
the largest supermarket banking franchise in the metropolitan New York region,
with 60 in-store branches, the Bank is the second largest originator of
multi-family mortgage loans in New York City.

      This press release is not an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of
these securities in any state in which the offer, solicitation or sale would be
unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any
such state.