Almost one in ten US homeowners were either behind on their mortgage payments or in foreclosure at the end of June, according to a new report.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said 9.2 per cent of households were in one of these two camps, up from 8.8 per cent at the end of March.

Jay Brinkmann, chief economist at the association, said the numbers have risen as a result of worsening debt problems in some of the hardest-hit states.

He said improvements in states such as Texas and Maryland were overshadowed by difficult conditions in California and Florida, which together accounted for 39 per cent of all of the foreclosures during the second quarter.

"Because of the sheer size of California and Florida, an improvement in the national numbers, whether delinquencies, home prices or any other measure, is unlikely until we see some turnaround in those two states," Mr Brinkmann told CNNMoney.

In total, the Mortgage Bankers Association said a record 1.249 million homes were in foreclosure between March and June.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department has announced that the unemployment rate reached a five-year high of 6.1 per cent in August.

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