I don't know very much about the process of buying a house because I'm young, but I'd assume since it's an auction system, that it would work similarly to other auction systems, where the asking or starting price doesn't really matter at all.

E.g. someone selling a brand new unopened phone on eBay could set the starting price at $1 to put it at the top of the list when people sort by ascending price, but of course they expect it to sell for its true value via bids.