diff --git a/liboctave/util/oct-locbuf.cc b/liboctave/util/oct-locbuf.cc
--- a/liboctave/util/oct-locbuf.cc
+++ b/liboctave/util/oct-locbuf.cc
@@ -57,10 +57,11 @@ namespace octave
                                       ? sizeof (double)
                                       : sizeof (long)) - 1;
 
-    active++;
+    // Always allocate, even for zero-size buffers so that local buffers
+    // always have valid addresses, same as for directly using operator
+    // new.
 
-    if (! size)
-      return;
+    active++;
 
     // Align size.  Note that size_t is unsigned, so size-1 must correctly
     // wrap around.
diff --git a/liboctave/util/oct-locbuf.h b/liboctave/util/oct-locbuf.h
--- a/liboctave/util/oct-locbuf.h
+++ b/liboctave/util/oct-locbuf.h
@@ -38,12 +38,12 @@ namespace octave
   class local_buffer
   {
   public:
-    local_buffer (size_t size)
-      : data (0)
-    {
-      if (size)
-        data = new T [size];
-    }
+
+    // Always allocate, even for zero-size buffers so that local
+    // buffers always have valid addresses, same as for directly using
+    // operator new.
+
+    local_buffer (size_t size) : data (new T [size]) { }
 
     // No copying!