diff --git a/core/storage/pager.rs b/core/storage/pager.rs
index 09cd09b90..6d8f5e63c 100644
--- a/core/storage/pager.rs
+++ b/core/storage/pager.rs
@@ -663,7 +663,7 @@ impl Pager {
     }
 
     #[instrument(skip_all, level = Level::INFO)]
-    fn maybe_allocate_page1(&self) -> Result<IOResult<()>> {
+    pub fn maybe_allocate_page1(&self) -> Result<IOResult<()>> {
         if self.db_state.load(Ordering::SeqCst) < DB_STATE_INITIALIZED {
             if let Ok(_lock) = self.init_lock.try_lock() {
                 match (
diff --git a/core/vdbe/execute.rs b/core/vdbe/execute.rs
index 1ec6d9f0f..b00313225 100644
--- a/core/vdbe/execute.rs
+++ b/core/vdbe/execute.rs
@@ -1944,6 +1944,8 @@ pub fn op_transaction(
 
     if let Some(mv_store) = &mv_store {
         if state.mv_tx_id.is_none() {
+            // We allocate the first page lazily in the first transaction.
+            return_if_io!(pager.maybe_allocate_page1());
             let tx_id = mv_store.begin_tx();
             conn.mv_transactions.borrow_mut().push(tx_id);
             state.mv_tx_id = Some(tx_id);