CoStar said national US rents in August fell .1% from July. It was the first monthly drop since December 2020 -- a sign rents may have finally peaked. 

Two other property research firms, Rent.com and Realtor.com, recorded slight monthly rent declines last month. 

Monthly rent declines are still minuscule compared with the 23% increase since August 2020, according to Realtor.com. 

Orphe Divounguy, an economist at Zillow Group, said there's no guarantee that rents peaked because soaring mortgage rates have unleashed an affordability crisis where households are being priced out of owning and forced to rent.