Big Short billionaire investor Kyle Bass reveals the three states where he's snapping up real estate to capitalize on migration trends - and one is VERY surprising

Kyle Bass, the billionaire investor who once took on the housing market, has revealed in an interview the three states where he is snatching up real estate. 

Texas, Florida, and Tennessee are the ideal places to invest in right now, Bass told Clay Fink on The Investor's Podcast. 

Bass' decision to short the real estate market in 2008 raised eyebrows, with many other investors deeply skeptical of his strategy.

Then the bubble burst, and Bass was vindicated, and his story was chronicled in Michael Lewis' bestselling book The Big Short, which was later adapted into a film of the same name.

Now, Kyle Bass is regarded as a market soothsayer, with many investors hanging on his every word and eager to follow his, at times surprising, advice.

Kyle Bass, pictured above, said he is investing in Texas, Florida, and Tennessee

Bass said that the northeast and west coast are 'very high cost, very high tax' regions

During the chat, Bass told Fink that the west coast and the northeast are 'very high cost, very high tax, one could say mismanaged jurisdictions.'

As a result of these adverse business conditions, workers and companies are moving to 'pro-business, lower cost, lower or no tax jurisdictions,' he said.

'You have to move real companies where there's affordability, where there's expansive activity, where there are natural resources to accommodate those movements,' the billionaire founder of Hayman Capital said.

Bass noted that it is important to be in front of the macro-movement of people and businesses.

By doing so, an investor is able to exploit the migration trends to their advantage.

'I want to be levered to that real estate. And I want to use a prudent amount of leverage.'

From 2022 to 2023, Florida's population grew by 365,000, while Texas has grown by more than 473,000. 

Tennessee's population increased by 77,513, a sizeable number. 

Florida, Texas, and Tennessee have all demonstrated significant growth in population

For Bass, the three states offer a more 'pro-business' environment

Bass' real-estate acquisitions are supplemented by his vast carbon-credit purchases

Together, Florida, Texas, and Tennessee are bucking the trend afflicting states like New York and California, where a significant number of large businesses are fleeing in favor of more business-friendly states.

In the past three years alone, an estimated $1 trillion worth of assets have left New York and California 

Bass isn't just interested in acquiring real estate in Florida, Tennessee, and Texas.

He is also purchasing 'carbon credits' and 'layering those on top of owning the real estate.'

In 2021, Bass founded Conservation Equity Management, an environmental sustainability private equity firm specializing in selling federal credits in exchange for conservation services such as wetland restoration on owned property.

It's a deeply rewarding - and lucrative - business for Bass.

'To protect myself and build wetlands and rebuild streams, creeks and rivers and charge the people that are impacting those markets huge amounts of money for their impacts by selling them actual federally regulated credits,' he said. 

'It’s a great business. It is super fun. You put on your snake boots, your waterproof snake boots, and you go.'