It's not just Honda, I think most (all ?) autos are designed like this.
It does seem that way. I found a
link to the Nissan system and it says the same - it also says it avoids idle stop when you're manoeuvring.
The
Wikipedia article also implies it's common practice.
"Cars with automatic transmissions shut down upon braking to a full stop - the shut down is activated the footbrake pedal being in use when the car comes to a halt."
It seems slightly odd to me. I'd say it was saving money on the grounds that a lot of auto drivers do just sit on the foot brake so why bother with anything more but that doesn't explain why the gear lever does have a sensor/switch and that they've gone to the trouble of allowing us to shift into neutral without the engine restarting.
It seems like a deliberate design decision and I can't fathom out why. I did actually email Honda to ask but I got a pointless boilerplate reply explaining how idle stop works on the automatic version. Pretty much what I'd already said in the email and what I could read for myself from the handbook.