diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/AbstractRegionParser.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/AbstractRegionParser.java
index 2856f47c..26cfd53d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/AbstractRegionParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/AbstractRegionParser.java
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ abstract class AbstractRegionParser extends AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionParser {
 	protected abstract Class<?> getRegionFactoryClass();
 
 	protected boolean isSubRegion(Element element) {
-		return element.getParentNode().getLocalName().endsWith("region");
+		return element.getParentNode().getLocalName() == null? false: element.getParentNode().getLocalName().endsWith("region");
 	}
 
 	@Override