diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr.c b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
index 4256794f3b..63315f2d0f 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
@@ -294,6 +294,15 @@ static hwaddr spapr_node0_size(MachineState *machine)
     return machine->ram_size;
 }
 
+bool spapr_machine_using_legacy_numa(SpaprMachineState *spapr)
+{
+    MachineState *machine = MACHINE(spapr);
+    SpaprMachineClass *smc = SPAPR_MACHINE_GET_CLASS(machine);
+
+    return smc->pre_5_2_numa_associativity ||
+           machine->numa_state->num_nodes <= 1;
+}
+
 static void add_str(GString *s, const gchar *s1)
 {
     g_string_append_len(s, s1, strlen(s1) + 1);
@@ -4519,8 +4528,11 @@ DEFINE_SPAPR_MACHINE(5_2, "5.2", true);
  */
 static void spapr_machine_5_1_class_options(MachineClass *mc)
 {
+    SpaprMachineClass *smc = SPAPR_MACHINE_CLASS(mc);
+
     spapr_machine_5_2_class_options(mc);
     compat_props_add(mc->compat_props, hw_compat_5_1, hw_compat_5_1_len);
+    smc->pre_5_2_numa_associativity = true;
 }
 
 DEFINE_SPAPR_MACHINE(5_1, "5.1", false);
diff --git a/include/hw/ppc/spapr.h b/include/hw/ppc/spapr.h
index bba8736269..bb47896f17 100644
--- a/include/hw/ppc/spapr.h
+++ b/include/hw/ppc/spapr.h
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@ struct SpaprMachineClass {
     bool smp_threads_vsmt; /* set VSMT to smp_threads by default */
     hwaddr rma_limit;          /* clamp the RMA to this size */
     bool pre_5_1_assoc_refpoints;
+    bool pre_5_2_numa_associativity;
 
     void (*phb_placement)(SpaprMachineState *spapr, uint32_t index,
                           uint64_t *buid, hwaddr *pio, 
@@ -853,6 +854,7 @@ int spapr_max_server_number(SpaprMachineState *spapr);
 void spapr_store_hpte(PowerPCCPU *cpu, hwaddr ptex,
                       uint64_t pte0, uint64_t pte1);
 void spapr_mce_req_event(PowerPCCPU *cpu, bool recovered);
+bool spapr_machine_using_legacy_numa(SpaprMachineState *spapr);
 
 /* DRC callbacks. */
 void spapr_core_release(DeviceState *dev);