Having noted that a few influential travel guidebooks seem to favour Sharm over Hurghada, I was wondering what impact these reports will have on potential future demand.

Of course, I'm aware that the advantages of Hurghada over Sharm are that you buy the freehold in the former and only the leasehold in the latter. In addition, they have been no terrorist attacks in Hurghada (touch wood!), unlike the Sinai peninsula. But to what extent is history a good indicator of the future, given terrorism's unpredictable nature?

I am right in thinking that Hurghada also has an advantage over Sharm for better nightlife/clubbing etc and cheaper cost of living etc?

Here is an extract from the RoughGuides' view on Hurghada:

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Hurghada (Ghardaka)

In the course of two decades, HURGHADA has been transformed from a humble fishing village of a few hundred souls into a booming town of over 100,000 people, drawn here from all over Egypt by the lure of making money. This phenomenal growth is almost entirely due to tourism, which accounts for 95 percent of the local economy. Yet it's worth taking Hurghada's claims to be a seaside resort with a handful of salt. Unlike Sinai, where soft sand and gorgeous reefs are within easy reach and women can bathe unhassled, Hurghada's public beaches are distant or uninviting, while the best marine life is far offshore. If you're not into diving or discos, you'll soon find that Hurghada lacks charm – though you have to admire its commercial gusto; many of the townsfolk come from Luxor's west bank, where tourism has been a way of life for generations.
While package tourists laze in their resorts, independent travellers often feel hard done by. Paying for boat trips and private beaches is unavoidable if you're to enjoy Hurghada's assets, and although conditions for diving, windsurfing and deep-sea fishing are great, the cost is high, with real bargains limited to accommodation. Nor will you save much by self-catering; everything in the shops is more expensive than in Cairo or the Nile Valley. As tour groups come all year round, there's no "off" season for holiday villages, whose peak times are the European Christmas and Easter holidays and the Russian vacation period of August and September. Low-budget hotels are most in demand over winter, when backpackers use Hurghada as a transit point between the Nile Valley and the Sinai.
The town itself is a hotchpotch of utilitarian structures, garish hotels, gaudy boutiques and sporadic patches of waste ground. Most of the coastline from Ed-Dahar down to New Hurghada is shielded from view by the line of holiday resorts, so if you've come for the beach, be prepared to pay for the pleasure. While some may be put off by the city's out-and-out commercialism, other tourists will take solace in what they can discover underwater: a score of coral islands and reefs within a few hours' reach by boat, and many other amazing dive sites that can be visited on liveaboards.