Safety record, number of flying airplanes and quality of support from manufacturer/community - these are main factors I considered when picked my RV kit. This is aside from the fact that RV is simply super cool airplane to fly.
I doubt you can find real competition to these factors on the market.
Certified market prices move up as well. It is industry and overall world situation, not just VANs. Sad to realize that aviation hobby becomes more and more expensive with higher ticket cost to enter, but that is a reality. Here up North in Canada we already pay over $2 CAD per litre of 100 LL
My local airport near san Francisco is currently at 1.91 CAD/liter (5.70 USD/gallon). Gas prices suck.