Actually I think it a bit of both.
I buy the older designs because I like the way they fly, and I like the building part of the hobby. Most of the folks I see buying up the older kits aren't buying them to build, but to put them on E-Bay. If a good laser cutter went to work, it would stop that because the guys who actually want to build the airplane would walk away from those insane prices and just order the kit, cut to order. I don't mind paying a fair price for an old out of production kit that is NIB, but $300 or more is nutz!