BEIJING, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - A 26-year-old female property developer tops this year's Forbes list of the richest people in China, grabbing the number one spot with a net worth of 16 billion dollars, the US magazine said Monday.

That amount also makes Yang Huiyan the richest woman in Asia, according to a statement from Forbes.

All the 40 people on Forbes Asia's 2007 China Rich List are billionaires, compared with only 15 last year, it said, attributing the rise to a boom in the nation's stock and property markets.

Their combined net worth is 120 billion dollars, up more than three times from last year's 38 billion dollars, it said.

Yang is one of more than a dozen property developers to make this year's list of the 40 richest, reflecting roaring demand for homes and real estate investments, according to Forbes.

"Household incomes are rising rapidly, and a growing number of people are moving into cities from rural areas," said Russell Flannery, compiler of the China Rich list.

"Those trends are creating great business opportunity for property developers in the country."

Yang is the daughter of Yeung Kwok Keung, the co-founder of Country Garden Holdings, a property development firm.