A slowdown in rent rises helped push inflation down below 3% in July, still well above the average for the eurozone, Dutch statistics agency CBS has said.

The average rent went up by 4.9% year-on-year in July, down from 5.4% in June, while total housing costs, including water and energy, were up by 1.13%.

Overall inflation in the Netherlands was 2.9% in July, unchanged from the CBS’s rough calculation at the start of August, compared to 3.1% in June and 4.1% in April.

Inflation is falling despite consumer prices going up for the first time in three months. The CBS said the 1.5% rise since June was mostly due to seasonal increases for items such as airline tickets.

Under the European Union’s harmonised measure of inflation (HCIP), which does not include the housing costs of owner-occupied homees, inflation in the Netherlands was 2.5% in June, while across the eurozone it was unchanged at 2%.

The CBS said the main reason for the discrepancy was that energy prices rose in the Netherlands in the last year while falling in most of the rest of Europe. Price rises for food, drink and tobacco were also relatively high.