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Oct 25 (Reuters) - New York Community Bancorp reported a loss for the third quarter on Friday as the regional lender set aside more reserves to cover potential loan losses.

The bank has been grappling with a big exposure to the troubled commercial real estate $(CRE.UK)$ market, mainly due to rising delinquencies in the office sector as buildings remain empty after the pandemic and elevated refinancing costs persist.

Ballooning charge-offs - debt written off as unlikely to be recovered - have prompted regional lenders to increase provisions to cover the CRE sector, in case of more loans sour.

NYCB's provisions for credit losses totaled $242 million in the third quarter versus $62 million, in the year-ago period.

This marks the third straight quarterly loss for the lender, weighed down by its large CRE exposure this year, prompting management shake-ups, heightened regulatory scrutiny, and a stock rout.

It posted a net loss available to common shareholders of $289 million, or 79 cents per share, compared with a profit of $199 million, or 81 cents per share, a year ago.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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