Despite the central government's tightening policies in the property market, the real estate sector still generates the largest number of billionaires in southern China, according to the Hurun 2013 Pearl River Delta Region Rich List.

This is the first time that the Hurun Report, a Shanghai-based magazine that covers wealthy Chinese people, releases a list for the region.

About 24 percent of the billionaires in the Pearl River region, which includes Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Foshan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai and Huizhou, come from the property industry, while 15 percent are in the manufacturing industry. The third-largest group of billionaires in the region is in the information technology industry.