Washington  - The number of homes in foreclosure has reached a new record in the United States as the country's housing crisis continues to inflict damage on the wider US economy, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday.

The number of new mortgage holders entering foreclosure in the second quarter stood at 1.19 per cent of all US mortgages - the first time the rate has topped 1 per cent in the 29-year-history of the association's record keeping.

The seasonally-adjusted foreclosure rate is up from 0.65 in the second quarter of last year and nearly triple the 0.39-per-cent figure in 2005 - the height of a decade-long housing boom in the US.

Altogether, 2.75 per cent of all home loans are now somewhere in the foreclosure process, and 6.41 per cent of all homeowners have at least one outstanding mortgage payment.

A record number of people have been forced into foreclosure due to tumbling housing prices in the US since 2007. The housing downturn has been front and centre of the wider US economic slump. Banks and lenders have lost billions of dollars in mortgage-related writedowns and cut back on credit access to prospective buyers. (dpa)