Blog
What's happening on HouseStrategy.au (recent posts at the top of page).
Priority 1 (in progress): Plot/draw over 1 million granny flats (potential new builds) on a slippy map.
Updated Pension Govt. Figures - October 2025
I updated to the latest Govt. figures for the pension calcultor. Some okay increases for pensioners, with a high majority of things increasing at least a little.
Updated Pension Govt. Figures - June 2025
It's been 6 months and not really an increase... maybe get $1 extra since 6 months ago. When I update the figures I check my calculator (on this site) matches my pension and it's within 25 cents or so (rounding is a bit different depending on how many decimal place rounding).
Updated Pension Govt. Figures - December 2024
Some minor increases to various things but no big changes generally.
Updated Pension Govt. Figures - September 2024
The basic rate of pension was unchanged however most other allowances and thresholds were increased (better for pensioners). Note that when I update these figures I check the calculated result matches my disability support pension amount.
Download Output File Upgrade - June 2024
The floor plans SVG file download now use real x y dimensions rather than the previous way of using CSS rotate functions. This way when a file is opened in vector-based drawing software it will render properly without conflicts/bugs.
Updated Pension Govt. Figures - April 2024
The basic rate of pension was increased. The deeming threshold is unchanged. The income penalty (free threshold) is unchanged. The limits for a full pension is unchanged however the "cancelled threshold" (when you lose the pension) has increased (more generous).
Deleted Investing Page - February 2024
I have decided to delete the investing page I previously had online (it's no longer online) because the financial terminology from the industry is a little shifty and I'm not getting a clear picture of what certain types of investment products do. Plus I would need a licence to offer financial advice, although the theme of the page was a general diversification philosophy theme and didn't offer specifics.
Latest Centrelink Figures - January 2024
Centrelink did not change their figures so no updates were made (they are the same since 3 months ago).
Updates And Bug Fixes - December 2023
A couple of improvements for the
pension calculator; 1) fixed the decimal places of some of the numbers, and 2) removed the negative value "result" if the person has a lot of income or assets penalties and returns a number below zero.
The slippy map of proposed granny flats for Sydney is coming along well... it's just taking a long time. I have nearly finished the base map and am working on a SVG rotate script (so I do not need CSS to rotate the SVG file).
Updated Latest Centrelink Figures - November 2023
The Centrelink figures were changed recently... site updated.
Updated Latest Centrelink Figures - July 2023
The Centrelink figures were changed recently... site updated.
Updated Latest Centrelink Figures - March 2023
The Centrelink figures were changed recently... site updated.
Updated Latest Centrelink Figures - January 2023
The Centrelink figures were unchanged in January so no edit required. I thought things were going up but my fortnightly amount in my bank account matches my calculator so it must be unchanged.
Updated Latest Centrelink Figures - November 2022
The Centrelink figures were unchanged from Sept so no edit required.
New Floor Plan - 13th November 2022
I have added a new floor plan designer which has a download SVG file option. I now need to put dimension around the floor plan.
From HouseStrategy.net to HouseStrategy.au - 4th November 2022
Australia has released .au domain names so I have changed some sites over. I'm still working on the slippy map and new improved floor plan builder.
Slippy Map Soon - 11th October 2022
Plans are coming along well for a slippy map with possible granny flat builds in the Macarthur area. I'm also going to update the floor plan builder to have different orientations (North, East, etc.), better scaling, better layout, and an image file download.
Updated Latest Centrelink Figures - 20th September 2022
I have updated the site to reflect the latest Centrelink figures. They review the amounts every 3 months and change some figures (but not usually all figures).
Accessible Stuff To Do - 16th August 2022
If your disabled in NSW/ACT then check out
The Adaptive Movement for wheelchair sports, kayaking, sky diving, horse stuff and more.
Working On A New Granny Flat Builder Page - 7th August 2022
I'm working on an update for the accessible granny flat floor plan builder page with an option for an output SVG file or raw code so the plan can be imported and edited in drawing/CAD software.
The plan will also be the template for a mass produced map of thousands of possible granny flats (view on a slippy map on
Wallabyup.au).
Updated Latest Centrelink Figures - 1st August 2022
I have updated the site to reflect the latest Centrelink figures. They review the amounts every 3 months and change some figures (but not usually all figures).
The figures that were changed were;
- pension assets limits (increased),
- higher deeming rates, and
- higher threshold for how much money you can make.
Price Per m2 Added - 14th January 2022
I added a price per m2 for the granny flat
floor plan builder. You can use the default price of $2,000 / m2 or type in your own estimate. Prices vary from $1,500 for a timber framed large granny flat, or $3,000 for a double brick smaller granny flat.
The smaller granny would be more expensive per meter squared as the builder does not have economies of scale. An example where a smaller build would be more expensive is where the builder sets up for bricklaying; orders all the material, gets it delivered, organises the labour... then the job starts and all of a sudden he finishes not long after he started.
Pension Rates Updated - 1st January 2022
I've updated the thresholds/limits for the
pension calculator page. I do this every 4 months as this is how often the Government fine tunes their cut-offs, limits, etc.
