Forbes has added another six British billionaires to its annual rich list, taking the total number to 53.

The Forbes World Billionaire’s issue features 1,826 billionaires from across the globe, with Bill Gates once again topping the list with an estimated wealth of $79.2 billion.

In total, 157 people on the list got some or all of their wealth from property and real estate with Lee Shau Kee of Hong Kong the richest property mogul with $24.8bn (number 27 on the list).

Lulu Egerton, Partner at Strutt & Parker in Chelsea, said: “In 2012, Strutt & Parker entered an exclusive international relationship with Christie’s International Real Estate and Christie’s auction house, which effectively opened up a treasure chest global ultra-high-net-worth individuals that we hadn’t previously had access to.

"Our eyes were opened to the luxury real estate assets that our clients own across the world and the astounding purchasing power of our international affiliate client base, many of whom are looking to invest in prime central London.

"For the international super-rich and those that appear in the Forbes Rich List, property is an asset class like no other. The scale and quality of what they buy is truly astounding.”

British billionaires

The highest ranking Brits on the list were the Hinduja Brothers with $14.5 billion. They were number 69 overall.

The six new Brits to the list were:

• Stephen Rubin, Speedo, $3 billion
• Hilton Schlosberg, Monster energy drinks, $1.4bn
• Chris Dawson, The Range homewear, $1bn
• Tom Morris, retail, $1.7bn
• Christos Lazari, property, £2.1bn
• Kenneth Lo, textiles, £1.4bn

Other big earning Brits included property moguls David & Simon Reuben ($14bn), Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor and family ($12.8bn) and Charles Cadogan ($7.2bn).

Falling off the list

While the number of billionaires worldwide and in the UK rose, the Russians didn’t have such good luck with the number of billionaires from Russia dropping from 111 to 28.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also fell off the list.

China had the most newcomers to the list (71) with 57 from the US, 28 from India and 23 from Germany.

The man who lost the most over the past year was Nigerian tycoon Aliko Dangote. He saw his wealth cut from $25bn to $14.7bn.

Overall, the average worth of a billionaire was down $60million to $3.86bn.

It was a record year for women with 197 female billionaires on the list, up from 172 last year. But it was another man that made the front cover of the special Forbes World's Billionaires issue - Minecraft creator Markus Persson, who is now worth $1.3bn.

Top ten richest

1. Bill Gates, Microsoft, $79.2bn
2. Carlos Slim Helu and family, telecoms, $77.1bn
3. Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, $72.7bn
4. Amancio Ortega, retail, $64.5bn
5. Larry Ellison, Oracle, $54.3bn
6. Charles Koch, diversified, $42.9bn
6. David Koch, diversified, $42.9bn
8. Christy Walton and family, Wal-Mart, $41.7bn
9. Jim Walton, Wal-Mart, $40.6bn