In my experience more often now people are doing custom but premium type directories. They are often in a niche, or in some way offer something special. And then of course there are those who buy pagerank. So there is still a market but it is more developed now.
The only 'premium' directory I've seen started in the last 7 years is dirjournal which established itself very quickly, but a great deal of money and knowledge is needed for a venture like that.
Oh, i agree 100%. I was in dir market before and sold the few ones (decent ones) that I had. I didn't know if its worth getting back into it or not. I wouldn't expect anything less than low $$$$ to start a reasonable directory now but its the questions of how long will it take to get a return on investment.
There are so many older ones with established niche markets that I think it might be difficult. I always see the bright side as well. There may be unexplored niche markets for directories or ones that are poorly done. If you have time to build one up then you many have a good idea.
As long as the market is available for directory submission people will keep starting directories. Few would be just another directory, many would be craps and very few stand test of time and top list as a good premium directory over a period of time.