diff --git a/kernel/sched_fair.c b/kernel/sched_fair.c
index a171138a9402..aa16cf1eb8fe 100644
--- a/kernel/sched_fair.c
+++ b/kernel/sched_fair.c
@@ -3031,7 +3031,14 @@ redo:
 
 	if (!ld_moved) {
 		schedstat_inc(sd, lb_failed[idle]);
-		sd->nr_balance_failed++;
+		/*
+		 * Increment the failure counter only on periodic balance.
+		 * We do not want newidle balance, which can be very
+		 * frequent, pollute the failure counter causing
+		 * excessive cache_hot migrations and active balances.
+		 */
+		if (idle != CPU_NEWLY_IDLE)
+			sd->nr_balance_failed++;
 
 		if (need_active_balance(sd, sd_idle, idle, cpu_of(busiest),
 					this_cpu)) {