diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr_vio.c b/hw/ppc/spapr_vio.c
index 9d4fec2c04..f8ef2b6fa8 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr_vio.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr_vio.c
@@ -574,13 +574,14 @@ SpaprVioBus *spapr_vio_bus_init(void)
 
     /* Create bridge device */
     dev = qdev_new(TYPE_SPAPR_VIO_BRIDGE);
-    sysbus_realize_and_unref(SYS_BUS_DEVICE(dev), &error_fatal);
 
     /* Create bus on bridge device */
     qbus = qbus_new(TYPE_SPAPR_VIO_BUS, dev, "spapr-vio");
     bus = SPAPR_VIO_BUS(qbus);
     bus->next_reg = SPAPR_VIO_REG_BASE;
 
+    sysbus_realize_and_unref(SYS_BUS_DEVICE(dev), &error_fatal);
+
     /* hcall-vio */
     spapr_register_hypercall(H_VIO_SIGNAL, h_vio_signal);