Commute travel and its effect on housing tenure choice of males and females living in the urban and rural areas of Bangalore city in India

•Examines the housing tenure choice of males and females in the urban and rural areas in an Indian city.•Investigate the effect of commute travel on housing tenure decision.•Mixed effects of private mode use on housing tenure choice in the urban and rural areas.•Commute distance and children’s school-trip distance influence the tenure choice.

This study attempts to identify various factors influencing individual’s choice of housing tenure with emphasis on the effect of commute trips on that choice. It also focuses on the sensitivity to various factors affecting the housing tenure choice between males and females of urban and rural areas. The study is based on both exploratory analysis and estimation of statistical models using a Household Travel Survey data collected for Bangalore Metropolitan Region in year 2010. The results indicate the role of both the land use attributes and commute travel characteristics on tenure choice and the behavioural difference between males and females. The sensitivity to various attributes is also observed to be varying between the individuals living in the urban and rural areas of the city. The finding that private mode use for commuting governs the housing tenure choice of individuals suggests that promotion of urban-transport policies such as Transit Oriented Development may be an effective strategy to curb the issues related to energy consumption and emission.