Nearly 1 in 10 American homeowners with a mortgage faced foreclosure or fell behind in their payments in the first three months of the year, according to a report released Thursday, a figure that offers a look into the toll caused by the collapse of the housing market, the New york Times reports.

The period from January to March marked the worst quarter for American homeowners in nearly a quarter-century, according to a widely watched report put out by the Mortgage Bankers Association, a trade group.

Both the rate of new foreclosures and late payments surged to the highest levels since 1979. (The delinquency rate includes Americans who are more than a month past due on their home loans.)

A breakdown of the statistics showed problems at nearly every level of the mortgage industry.

Of the 45 million home loans included in the survey, 6.35 percent were at least one payment past due, up from 5.82 percent for the fourth quarter of 2007. (All figures are adjusted for seasonal factors.)

Foreclosure proceedings began on 0.99 percent of loans, up from 0.83 percent in the previous quarter.

Over all, the percentage of loans being foreclosed on reached 2.47 percent in the first quarter, rising from 2.04 percent at the end of December 2007.