diff --git a/include/qom/object.h b/include/qom/object.h
index ef7258a5e149f14b1fca3da1b3c6e2f1365c8f20..afccd24ca7ab7197dc7169ba4394d3957657d1fa 100644
--- a/include/qom/object.h
+++ b/include/qom/object.h
@@ -1093,6 +1093,14 @@ void object_property_set_default_bool(ObjectProperty *prop, bool value);
  */
 void object_property_set_default_str(ObjectProperty *prop, const char *value);
 
+/**
+ * object_property_set_default_list:
+ * @prop: the property to set
+ *
+ * Set the property default value to be an empty list.
+ */
+void object_property_set_default_list(ObjectProperty *prop);
+
 /**
  * object_property_set_default_int:
  * @prop: the property to set
diff --git a/qom/object.c b/qom/object.c
index 8557fe8e4e0fc1e795c63e7d1281222c1667a494..95c0dc8285fe70ceec211d56c6de7327045cff05 100644
--- a/qom/object.c
+++ b/qom/object.c
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
  * of the QOM core on QObject?  */
 #include "qom/qom-qobject.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qbool.h"
+#include "qapi/qmp/qlist.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qnum.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qstring.h"
 #include "qemu/error-report.h"
@@ -1588,6 +1589,11 @@ void object_property_set_default_str(ObjectProperty *prop, const char *value)
     object_property_set_default(prop, QOBJECT(qstring_from_str(value)));
 }
 
+void object_property_set_default_list(ObjectProperty *prop)
+{
+    object_property_set_default(prop, QOBJECT(qlist_new()));
+}
+
 void object_property_set_default_int(ObjectProperty *prop, int64_t value)
 {
     object_property_set_default(prop, QOBJECT(qnum_from_int(value)));