diff --git a/backends/hostmem.c b/backends/hostmem.c
index 3f8eb93..1b0043a 100644
--- a/backends/hostmem.c
+++ b/backends/hostmem.c
@@ -324,7 +324,6 @@
 {
     HostMemoryBackend *backend = MEMORY_BACKEND(uc);
     HostMemoryBackendClass *bc = MEMORY_BACKEND_GET_CLASS(uc);
-    Error *local_err = NULL;
     void *ptr;
     uint64_t sz;
 
@@ -400,15 +399,16 @@
      * specified NUMA policy in place.
      */
     if (backend->prealloc) {
+        Error *local_err = NULL;
+
         qemu_prealloc_mem(memory_region_get_fd(&backend->mr), ptr, sz,
                           backend->prealloc_threads,
                           backend->prealloc_context, &local_err);
         if (local_err) {
-            goto out;
+            error_propagate(errp, local_err);
+            return;
         }
     }
-out:
-    error_propagate(errp, local_err);
 }
 
 static bool