diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index ff0eb2d6f5..1b0a55b27f 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -11485,7 +11485,7 @@ virDomainTimerDefParseXML(xmlNodePtr node,
         }
     }
 
-    ret = virXPathULong("string(./frequency)", ctxt, &def->frequency);
+    ret = virXPathULong("string(./@frequency)", ctxt, &def->frequency);
     if (ret == -1) {
         def->frequency = 0;
     } else if (ret < 0) {