Average household spending in July dropped 1.6 percent from a year earlier for the fourth consecutive month of decline, the government said in a report released Friday.

Inflation-adjusted average monthly spending, a key gauge of personal consumption, came to 314,946 yen per household, down due to cuts in expenditure on food and housing, said the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications.

The fall was smaller than June's 3.5 percent drop, according to the report.

Food expenditures -- the biggest spending category -- slipped 1.8 percent, as spending on grains and liquor fell. Spending on housing fell 8.8 percent on the back of lower spending on repair and maintenance fees as well as rent.

Spending in the transportation and communications category, by contrast, rose 3.8 percent, thanks to a rise in communications spending, while transportation outlays declined.

Spending on furniture and household goods was up, by 5.6 percent, with gains on household durable goods and interior ornaments offsetting falls in bedclothes and housekeeping sundries.

Education spending also dropped, by 7 percent, medical and health care by 5.6 percent and clothing by 3.2 percent.

Average spending in July in the wage-earners' household category fell 0.4 percent in real terms to 346,890 yen, down for the fourth straight month. Spending by self-employed households fell 2.4 percent in real terms to 270,661 yen, the ministry said.