ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of trust in buying and selling housing in Russia’s Far East. It argues that ‘trust’ can be distinguished from ‘reliance’ by virtue of the fact that its breach calls forth different emotions: a feeling of betrayal as distinct from annoyance. Trust in this sense is not involved in the initial decision to purchase an apartment, which is attended by a host of other considerations, including attitudes toward chance and luck. But it briefly appears when a buyer reaches an agreement with a specific developer and starts to pay installments on the promise of a future apartment. The chapter examines the case of a Chinese-financed development company, showing how its attempts to create trust fail in the Russian market, and it discusses the phenomenon of ‘cheated shareholders’, whose anger at their betrayal by construction firms has given rise to a protest movement across Russia.
