diff --git a/hw/s390x/virtio-ccw.c b/hw/s390x/virtio-ccw.c
index de0764de48..c074f64e92 100644
--- a/hw/s390x/virtio-ccw.c
+++ b/hw/s390x/virtio-ccw.c
@@ -900,7 +900,7 @@ static void virtio_ccw_balloon_instance_init(Object *obj)
     VirtIOBalloonCcw *dev = VIRTIO_BALLOON_CCW(obj);
     object_initialize(&dev->vdev, sizeof(dev->vdev), TYPE_VIRTIO_BALLOON);
     object_property_add_child(obj, "virtio-backend", OBJECT(&dev->vdev), NULL);
-
+    object_unref(OBJECT(&dev->vdev));
     object_property_add(obj, "guest-stats", "guest statistics",
                         balloon_ccw_stats_get_all, NULL, NULL, dev, NULL);
 
diff --git a/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c b/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c
index 40652a7481..62f84c4ac0 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c
@@ -1325,7 +1325,7 @@ static void virtio_balloon_pci_instance_init(Object *obj)
     VirtIOBalloonPCI *dev = VIRTIO_BALLOON_PCI(obj);
     object_initialize(&dev->vdev, sizeof(dev->vdev), TYPE_VIRTIO_BALLOON);
     object_property_add_child(obj, "virtio-backend", OBJECT(&dev->vdev), NULL);
-
+    object_unref(OBJECT(&dev->vdev));
     object_property_add(obj, "guest-stats", "guest statistics",
                         balloon_pci_stats_get_all, NULL, NULL, dev,
                         NULL);