diff --git a/src/plugins/qmldesigner/components/materialeditor/materialeditorview.cpp b/src/plugins/qmldesigner/components/materialeditor/materialeditorview.cpp
index 4a9487d9239..8476f0910a7 100644
--- a/src/plugins/qmldesigner/components/materialeditor/materialeditorview.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/qmldesigner/components/materialeditor/materialeditorview.cpp
@@ -87,10 +87,6 @@ void MaterialEditorView::ensureMaterialLibraryNode()
     if (m_materialLibrary.isValid())
         return;
 
-    const QList<ModelNode> materials = rootModelNode().subModelNodesOfType("QtQuick3D.Material");
-    if (materials.isEmpty())
-        return;
-
     // create material library node
     TypeName nodeType = rootModelNode().isSubclassOf("QtQuick3D.Node") ? "QtQuick3D.Node" : "QtQuick.Item";
     NodeMetaInfo metaInfo = model()->metaInfo(nodeType);
@@ -99,6 +95,10 @@ void MaterialEditorView::ensureMaterialLibraryNode()
     m_materialLibrary.setIdWithoutRefactoring(Constants::MATERIAL_LIB_ID);
     rootModelNode().defaultNodeListProperty().reparentHere(m_materialLibrary);
 
+    const QList<ModelNode> materials = rootModelNode().subModelNodesOfType("QtQuick3D.Material");
+    if (materials.isEmpty())
+        return;
+
     RewriterTransaction transaction = beginRewriterTransaction(
         "MaterialEditorView::ensureMaterialLibraryNode");