diff --git a/tests/xmlparse.py b/tests/xmlparse.py
index db679497b..16de6779c 100644
--- a/tests/xmlparse.py
+++ b/tests/xmlparse.py
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ class XMLParseTest(unittest.TestCase):
         rmfeat = guest.cpu.features[3]
         guest.cpu.remove_feature(rmfeat)
         self.assertEquals(rmfeat.get_xml_config(),
-                          """<feature name="foo" policy="bar"/>""")
+                          """<feature name="foo" policy="bar"/>\n""")
         guest.cpu.add_feature("addfeature")
 
         check = self._make_checker(guest.numatune)
@@ -303,8 +303,8 @@ class XMLParseTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self._alter_compare(guest.get_xml_config(), outfile)
 
     def testSingleDisk(self):
-        xml = ("""<disk type="file" device="disk"><source file="/a.img"/>"""
-               """<target dev="hda" bus="ide"/></disk>""")
+        xml = ("""<disk type="file" device="disk"><source file="/a.img"/>\n"""
+               """<target dev="hda" bus="ide"/></disk>\n""")
         d = virtinst.VirtualDisk(conn, parsexml=xml)
         self._set_and_check(d, "target", "hda", "hdb")
         self.assertEquals(xml.replace("hda", "hdb"), d.get_xml_config())
diff --git a/virtinst/xmlbuilder.py b/virtinst/xmlbuilder.py
index 6d0346905..aa290c9a4 100644
--- a/virtinst/xmlbuilder.py
+++ b/virtinst/xmlbuilder.py
@@ -1018,9 +1018,9 @@ class XMLBuilder(object):
         if ret == xmlstub:
             ret = ""
 
-        if (ret and
-            self._xmlstate.root_name == "domain" and
-            not ret.endswith("\n")):
+        # Ensure top level XML object always ends with a newline, just
+        # for back compat and readability
+        if (ret and not self.get_root_xpath() and not ret.endswith("\n")):
             ret += "\n"
         return ret