I reckon there seems to be an increase in interest in the hobby with new guys getting into it. There are continually new members to the forums and guys posting about the purchase of their first machine/s. Without the Australian forums, there is every chance I would have sold the machine I started with and got out of the hobby because I would not have been able to afford to repairs and servcing all the time whereas the amount I have learnt from the you guys on the forums has meant that I keep collecting.
As for prices, some prices have been low on eBay from what I have seen and then other machines go for silly money. Doesn't seem to be any set pattern.
