Faster than speed of light: Singaporeans' personal bills spiked as much as 25%

And some are starting to complain.

Singaporeans will have to work double time and overtime just to survive the demanding lifestyle of residing in the world's most expensive city. Prices of everything has shot up, from the small luxury of eating out at omakase restaurants down to the most mundane needs such as phone bills and groceries--and Singaporeans are starting to cringe at the lash of price hikes.

CIMB recently conducted its Cost of Living survey, they focused on what accounts for the largest wallet share of Singapore residents: basic necessities. 

Here's more from CIMB:

Our survey finds that an overwhelming majority (70%) now spend a higher proportion of their disposal income on groceries, utilities and children’s education than two years ago.

About 43% reckon that the dollar amount they spend on groceries and utilities has increased by 25-50% while 42% estimate that their bills have gone up by 1-25%.

Similarly, most (54%) estimate that the cost of eating out has jumped by 25-50% over the past two years.

One respondent, who has lived in Hong Kong and Singapore, told us that between the two cities, eating out in Singapore is certainly more expensive these days.

In other words, half of our households believe that their experience with food inflation is higher than Singapore’s reported core inflation of 1.7-2.5% for 2012-13. To be sure, the typical household might not be measuring the same basket of goods as the CPI.

As our colleagues observed, two years ago, there was only a handful of omakase restaurants serving S$300/head meals.

Today, that number has multiplied manifold. Also, as children grow up or as more members are added to the brood, it is natural that household bills will grow.

For instance, one respondent gave us the feedback that her household bill is rising, as the family now needs two domestic helpers, after the arrival of her second child. (She recently moved to Sydney and laments that in Sydney, it is not about costs; you cannot even find domestic helpers).