I don't understand why someone would spend over a million dollars on land they dont even own!
I think many large commercial buildings are like this.
Depends on the country...
Here in Hawaii leasehold (where you don't own the land) is common...and the subject of a HUGE Supreme Court case that is the precedent to the City of New London case of a couple of years ago (Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff).
Our apartment is leasehold owned. Our landlord pays $100 a month to some Catholic retreat to lease the land. The lease is up this year, so the lease amount will probably go up.