diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 3aa348cf6f..8fabe8deb5 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -385,6 +385,12 @@ struct _virQEMUCaps {
 
     size_t ngicCapabilities;
     virGICCapability *gicCapabilities;
+
+    /* Anything below is not stored in the cache since the values are
+     * re-computed from the other fields or external data sources every
+     * time we probe QEMU or load the results from the cache.
+     */
+    virCPUDefPtr hostCPUModel;
 };
 
 struct virQEMUCapsSearchData {
@@ -2113,6 +2119,10 @@ virQEMUCapsPtr virQEMUCapsNewCopy(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
             goto error;
     }
 
+    if (qemuCaps->hostCPUModel &&
+        !(ret->hostCPUModel = virCPUDefCopy(qemuCaps->hostCPUModel)))
+        goto error;
+
     if (VIR_ALLOC_N(ret->machineTypes, qemuCaps->nmachineTypes) < 0)
         goto error;
     ret->nmachineTypes = qemuCaps->nmachineTypes;
@@ -2157,6 +2167,8 @@ void virQEMUCapsDispose(void *obj)
     VIR_FREE(qemuCaps->binary);
 
     VIR_FREE(qemuCaps->gicCapabilities);
+
+    virCPUDefFree(qemuCaps->hostCPUModel);
 }
 
 void
@@ -2902,6 +2914,38 @@ int virQEMUCapsProbeQMP(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
 }
 
 
+void
+virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                            virCapsHostPtr host)
+{
+    virCPUDefPtr cpu = NULL;
+
+    if (!virQEMUCapsGuestIsNative(host->arch, qemuCaps->arch))
+        goto error;
+
+    if (host->cpu && host->cpu->model) {
+        if (VIR_ALLOC(cpu) < 0)
+            goto error;
+
+        cpu->sockets = cpu->cores = cpu->threads = 0;
+        cpu->type = VIR_CPU_TYPE_GUEST;
+        cpu->mode = VIR_CPU_MODE_CUSTOM;
+        cpu->match = VIR_CPU_MATCH_EXACT;
+
+        if (virCPUDefCopyModel(cpu, host->cpu, true) < 0)
+            goto error;
+    }
+
+    qemuCaps->hostCPUModel = cpu;
+    return;
+
+ error:
+    virCPUDefFree(cpu);
+    qemuCaps->hostCPUModel = NULL;
+    virResetLastError();
+}
+
+
 /*
  * Parsing a doc that looks like
  *
@@ -2920,8 +2964,11 @@ int virQEMUCapsProbeQMP(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
  * </qemuCaps>
  */
 int
-virQEMUCapsLoadCache(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps, const char *filename,
-                     time_t *qemuctime, time_t *selfctime,
+virQEMUCapsLoadCache(virCapsPtr caps,
+                     virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                     const char *filename,
+                     time_t *qemuctime,
+                     time_t *selfctime,
                      unsigned long *selfvers)
 {
     xmlDocPtr doc = NULL;
@@ -3154,6 +3201,8 @@ virQEMUCapsLoadCache(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps, const char *filename,
     }
     VIR_FREE(nodes);
 
+    virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(qemuCaps, &caps->host);
+
     ret = 0;
  cleanup:
     VIR_FREE(str);
@@ -3344,7 +3393,9 @@ virQEMUCapsReset(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
 
 
 static int
-virQEMUCapsInitCached(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps, const char *cacheDir)
+virQEMUCapsInitCached(virCapsPtr caps,
+                      virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                      const char *cacheDir)
 {
     char *capsdir = NULL;
     char *capsfile = NULL;
@@ -3386,8 +3437,8 @@ virQEMUCapsInitCached(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps, const char *cacheDir)
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if (virQEMUCapsLoadCache(qemuCaps, capsfile, &qemuctime, &selfctime,
-                             &selfvers) < 0) {
+    if (virQEMUCapsLoadCache(caps, qemuCaps, capsfile,
+                             &qemuctime, &selfctime, &selfvers) < 0) {
         VIR_WARN("Failed to load cached caps from '%s' for '%s': %s",
                  capsfile, qemuCaps->binary, virGetLastErrorMessage());
         virResetLastError();
@@ -3871,7 +3922,7 @@ virQEMUCapsLogProbeFailure(const char *binary)
 
 
 virQEMUCapsPtr
-virQEMUCapsNewForBinaryInternal(virCapsPtr caps ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
+virQEMUCapsNewForBinaryInternal(virCapsPtr caps,
                                 const char *binary,
                                 const char *libDir,
                                 const char *cacheDir,
@@ -3911,7 +3962,7 @@ virQEMUCapsNewForBinaryInternal(virCapsPtr caps ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
 
     if (!cacheDir)
         rv = 0;
-    else if ((rv = virQEMUCapsInitCached(qemuCaps, cacheDir)) < 0)
+    else if ((rv = virQEMUCapsInitCached(caps, qemuCaps, cacheDir)) < 0)
         goto error;
 
     if (rv == 0) {
@@ -3937,16 +3988,18 @@ virQEMUCapsNewForBinaryInternal(virCapsPtr caps ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
         if (cacheDir &&
             virQEMUCapsRememberCached(qemuCaps, cacheDir) < 0)
             goto error;
+
+        virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(qemuCaps, &caps->host);
     }
 
+ cleanup:
     VIR_FREE(qmperr);
     return qemuCaps;
 
  error:
-    VIR_FREE(qmperr);
     virObjectUnref(qemuCaps);
     qemuCaps = NULL;
-    return NULL;
+    goto cleanup;
 }
 
 static virQEMUCapsPtr
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capspriv.h b/src/qemu/qemu_capspriv.h
index ac3693b5ca..22c5a8ae5b 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capspriv.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capspriv.h
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ virQEMUCapsNewForBinaryInternal(virCapsPtr caps,
                                 gid_t runGid,
                                 bool qmpOnly);
 
-int virQEMUCapsLoadCache(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+int virQEMUCapsLoadCache(virCapsPtr caps,
+                         virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                          const char *filename,
                          time_t *qemuctime,
                          time_t *selfctime,
@@ -60,4 +61,8 @@ char *virQEMUCapsFormatCache(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
 void
 virQEMUCapsSetArch(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                    virArch arch);
+
+void
+virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                            virCapsHostPtr host);
 #endif
diff --git a/tests/domaincapstest.c b/tests/domaincapstest.c
index 511066d9ab..99971c27d1 100644
--- a/tests/domaincapstest.c
+++ b/tests/domaincapstest.c
@@ -173,9 +173,13 @@ fillQemuCaps(virDomainCapsPtr domCaps,
     virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps = NULL;
     virDomainCapsLoaderPtr loader = &domCaps->os.loader;
 
+    if (!(caps = virCapabilitiesNew(domCaps->arch, false, false)) ||
+        fakeHostCPU(caps, domCaps->arch) < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
+
     if (virAsprintf(&path, "%s/qemucapabilitiesdata/%s.%s.xml",
                     abs_srcdir, name, arch) < 0 ||
-        !(qemuCaps = qemuTestParseCapabilities(path)))
+        !(qemuCaps = qemuTestParseCapabilities(caps, path)))
         goto cleanup;
 
     if (machine &&
@@ -188,10 +192,6 @@ fillQemuCaps(virDomainCapsPtr domCaps,
                    virQEMUCapsGetDefaultMachine(qemuCaps)) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
-    if (!(caps = virCapabilitiesNew(domCaps->arch, false, false)) ||
-        fakeHostCPU(caps, domCaps->arch) < 0)
-        goto cleanup;
-
     if (virQEMUCapsFillDomainCaps(caps, domCaps, qemuCaps,
                                   cfg->firmwares,
                                   cfg->nfirmwares) < 0)
diff --git a/tests/qemucapabilitiestest.c b/tests/qemucapabilitiestest.c
index 3924bce811..10cfa43768 100644
--- a/tests/qemucapabilitiestest.c
+++ b/tests/qemucapabilitiestest.c
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ testQemuCapsCopy(const void *opaque)
                                     false, false)))
         goto cleanup;
 
-    if (!(orig = qemuTestParseCapabilities(capsFile)))
+    if (!(orig = qemuTestParseCapabilities(caps, capsFile)))
         goto cleanup;
 
     if (!(copy = virQEMUCapsNewCopy(orig)))
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index 156a45a9d5..7080484a6e 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -347,7 +347,8 @@ testInitQEMUCaps(struct testInfo *info,
 
 static int
 testUpdateQEMUCaps(const struct testInfo *info,
-                   virDomainObjPtr vm)
+                   virDomainObjPtr vm,
+                   virCapsPtr caps)
 {
     int ret = -1;
 
@@ -356,6 +357,8 @@ testUpdateQEMUCaps(const struct testInfo *info,
     if (testAddCPUModels(info->qemuCaps, info->skipLegacyCPUs) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
+    virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(info->qemuCaps, &caps->host);
+
     virQEMUCapsFilterByMachineType(info->qemuCaps, vm->def->os.machine);
 
     if (ARCH_IS_X86(vm->def->os.arch))
@@ -448,7 +451,7 @@ testCompareXMLToArgv(const void *data)
             goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if (testUpdateQEMUCaps(info, vm) < 0)
+    if (testUpdateQEMUCaps(info, vm, driver.caps) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
     log = virTestLogContentAndReset();
diff --git a/tests/testutilsqemu.c b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
index 8c2c8b4624..e66903a3b0 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.c
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
@@ -491,7 +491,8 @@ qemuTestSetHostCPU(virCapsPtr caps,
 
 
 virQEMUCapsPtr
-qemuTestParseCapabilities(const char *capsFile)
+qemuTestParseCapabilities(virCapsPtr caps,
+                          const char *capsFile)
 {
     virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps = NULL;
     time_t qemuctime;
@@ -499,7 +500,7 @@ qemuTestParseCapabilities(const char *capsFile)
     unsigned long version;
 
     if (!(qemuCaps = virQEMUCapsNew()) ||
-        virQEMUCapsLoadCache(qemuCaps, capsFile,
+        virQEMUCapsLoadCache(caps, qemuCaps, capsFile,
                              &qemuctime, &selfctime, &version) < 0)
         goto error;
 
diff --git a/tests/testutilsqemu.h b/tests/testutilsqemu.h
index 6d35116f36..047a64d1ac 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.h
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.h
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ enum {
 virCapsPtr testQemuCapsInit(void);
 virDomainXMLOptionPtr testQemuXMLConfInit(void);
 
-virQEMUCapsPtr qemuTestParseCapabilities(const char *capsFile);
+virQEMUCapsPtr qemuTestParseCapabilities(virCapsPtr caps,
+                                         const char *capsFile);
 
 extern virCPUDefPtr cpuDefault;
 extern virCPUDefPtr cpuHaswell;