diff --git a/builtin/init-db.c b/builtin/init-db.c
index 01bc27904e..b4343c2804 100644
--- a/builtin/init-db.c
+++ b/builtin/init-db.c
@@ -229,24 +229,29 @@ int cmd_init_db(int argc,
 
 	if (!is_bare_repository_cfg) {
 		const char *git_dir_parent = strrchr(git_dir, '/');
-		char *git_work_tree_cfg = NULL;
 
-		if (git_dir_parent) {
-			char *rel = xstrndup(git_dir, git_dir_parent - git_dir);
-			git_work_tree_cfg = real_pathdup(rel, 1);
-			free(rel);
-		}
-		if (!git_work_tree_cfg)
-			git_work_tree_cfg = xgetcwd();
-		if (work_tree)
+		if (work_tree) {
 			set_git_work_tree(the_repository, work_tree);
-		else
-			set_git_work_tree(the_repository, git_work_tree_cfg);
+		} else {
+			char *work_tree_cfg = NULL;
+
+			if (git_dir_parent) {
+				char *rel = xstrndup(git_dir, git_dir_parent - git_dir);
+				work_tree_cfg = real_pathdup(rel, 1);
+				free(rel);
+			}
+
+			if (!work_tree_cfg)
+				work_tree_cfg = xgetcwd();
+
+			set_git_work_tree(the_repository, work_tree_cfg);
+
+			free(work_tree_cfg);
+		}
+
 		if (access(repo_get_work_tree(the_repository), X_OK))
 			die_errno (_("Cannot access work tree '%s'"),
 				   repo_get_work_tree(the_repository));
-
-		free(git_work_tree_cfg);
 	}
 	else {
 		if (real_git_dir)