(Yicai Global) July 28 -- Xu Jiayin, founder and chair of major Chinese real estate developer China Evergrande Group [HK:3333] has become the richest property tycoon in the country following a soaring A-share price this week.

Evergrande's share price increased by 18 percent on Wednesday and 13.9 percent on Thursday to reach an all-time high.

The rise has taken Xu's wealth to USD31.6 billion, taking him past Wang Jianlin, founder of property giant Dalian Wanda Group Co., as the richest man in China's real estate sector, data from Forbes shows.

Evergrande's pre-announcement of financial results for the first half of this year was a key factor in the share price increases, market insiders said. The group confirmed that net profit for the first half is expected to register more than HKD21.3 billion (USD2.73 billion), far exceeding market expectations.

Since the beginning this year, Evergrande's stock price has seen an overall rise of more than 330 percent, one of the highest rates of growth seen on the Hong Kong stock market this year.