This article attempts to study the effect of various pulse-like ground motion parameters and local site conditions on the linear response of different multi-story buildings with special shear and flexural behaviour. The multi-story buildings are modelled using a combination of a shear and flexural beams with representative lateral stiffness ratios. A total of 61 near-fault pulse-like ground motions are selected for this study. The effects of peak ground velocity (PGV), PGV/PGA, rupture distance, Arias intensity, earthquake magnitude and local site conditions on maximum inter-story drift spectra (MIDS) and distribution of the inter-story drift ratio (IDR) along the height of the multi-story buildings are evaluated. It was observed that both the fundamental period of the structure and the lateral stiffness ratio can significantly change maximum inter-story drift demands in buildings subjected to pulse-like ground motions. The near-fault pulse-like ground motions are more dangerous for multi-story buildings with flexural behaviour than those with shear behaviour. The effects of peak ground velocity (PGV) and Arias intensity (I) on inter-story drift spectra is more obvious than others parameters.