Sotheby’s said it will cease holding auctions of Asian Contemporary art in New York and “consolidate” them instead in Hong Kong, with biannual sales in the Asian city.

Sotheby’s said it will organize dedicated auctions of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Southeast Asian art in April and October in Hong Kong, starting next year. Its September 17 sale of such Asian works in New York will be its last in the city, a Hong Kong-based Sotheby’s spokeswoman, Rhonda Yung, said in an interview Wednesday. The decision doesn’t preclude sales of batches of Asian artworks at its New York, Paris, and London auctions, Ms. Yung said.

The move by the American auction house tracks that of London-based rival Christie’s International, which held Asia’s first major evening sale of the region’s Contemporary works in Hong Kong in May. Artist Zeng Fanzhi’s painting of masked Red Guards of the Cultural Revolution era fetched a Chinese Contemporary-art record of $9.7 million at Christie’s inaugural sale.

“It’s a shrewd decision,” a Beijing-based Contemporary-art dealer, Tian Kai, said. “While Europe still has the top collectors of Asian Contemporary art, being in Hong Kong shows Sotheby’s commitment to a growing market.”

Mr. Tian said Christie’s has about 60% of the Asian Contemporary-art auction market, while Sotheby’s has 40%. Christie’s has a “good but not insurmountable” lead over Sotheby’s in that market, Mr. Tian said.

“It has become increasingly evident that Contemporary Asian works have consistently fetched the highest prices at auction in Hong Kong,” the Sotheby’s Hong Kong-based chief executive officer, Kevin Ching, said in a statement.

Hong Kong is the third-biggest auction market after New York and London. Results from Christie’s and Sotheby’s sales of gems, antiques, and art in the city serve as industry bellwethers.