DeletedUser
Guest
If the upgrade of a residence is finished while you're offline, the production of coins doesn't start until you're logged in.
I cannot speak for the developers, but there could be various reasons for behavior of this type. Mainly, it means you have to login more frequently or stay online a longer period of time. This pushes activity, it means you'll be spending more time playing the game and you'll probably be doing something else in the meantime. It gets you to interact with others or use other aspects of the game while you're waiting. If you simply login to collect productions and set new ones you're not aiding toward community growth.
Other, smaller reasons could be to make it more similar to the behavior of other buildings (where you need to login to choose and start a production), to make it a bit more realistic as if the workers are waiting on you to give them the orders to start working, etc. I understand where the feelings are coming from on the matter, but I can also see valid reasons why it works the way it currently does.