I think there's an element of inevitability about rising prices.
The sort of woodworking tools that are regarded as of sufficient quality to be desirable generally ceased to be made sometime between the '50s and '70s, so allowing for a working lifetime and some time in the shed, together with the rise of hand-held power tools from the '60s on, the supply of former tradesmen's tools must be starting to peter out a bit. It's not applicable to all tools, but the more specialist ones - such as hand routers - are becoming scarcer first. There are still plenty of 26" handsaws and chisels about, and of course stuff like hammers and screwdrivers.
Couple of options - the first is to make your own. The old wooden form of router - old woman's tooth kind - would be a good first tool-making project, using a plough iron or similar for a cutter. The other option is just to spring for a new one, confident in the knowledge that it'll work pretty much straight out of the box, without any fettling time needed beyond honing the cutting iron.