Would anyone be able to explain how the value of gear is evolving at the moment?

It seems that a few years back brand new boards were around the $2k mark, now almost $3k. Carbon fibre is becoming scarce with all the new composite commercial planes demanding a lot of it, then I guess factory costs, overheads and employee pay-rates going up... is that it?

Also, as far as waveboards go, they don't seem to retain their value much, i.e. 2010 boards used 3 times being sold for $1k less than the RRP... Is that due to new concepts emerging at the moment (twins, quads) depreciating the "obsolete" designs?
That said I don't really know what the deal is with the freeride/ slalom stuff.

A few people go down the path of getting local customs now which are cheaper and still high quality, good for local shapers, less for the mainstream market.
Still you could get a "3 times used" 2010 board for the same price! However some don't like buying second hand waveboards because they wouldn't know what abuse they've taken.

Anyhow the marketing is working well because I always want to try the new stuff, but I guess when you're used to a board it would be better to keep it and work on technique, replace it when it breaks.
In that case if boards were cheaper you could afford to buy a new one when your board is broken (no value!), and/or buy more - 1 freestyle, 2 waveboards.

Any thoughts?
Maybe I should study economics

board prices have actually come down a lot just recently. Some suppliers have dropped prices to below $2400 rrp possibly courtesy of the strong AUD, or maybe cause its coming close to end of the season. Last summer before the GFC when the aussie dollar was good I bought a brand new current season board for $2k.

maybe its because its end of season too? not sure.

also, don't ever pay RRP for gear, I don't know anyone who has paid RRP for a board, and often times the "actual" price is hundreds of dollars less then RRP.

I think the worst thing is that the market here isn't really big enough to support many shops, much less shops having a good amount of current season demo boards for you to try before you buy.