Why can investors buy land and leave it undeveloped until there is an opportunity for profit? It is the same concept. The land is unproductive until somebody wants to live on it, or build their business on it.

It is true that many communities in the US have property taxes, which has an interesting effect. It makes it so only wealthy people can own and hold un-used land, because most middle and lower income folks could not afford to pay property taxes on land just to hold it.