diff --git a/packages/svelte/src/compiler/phases/3-transform/client/visitors/VariableDeclaration.js b/packages/svelte/src/compiler/phases/3-transform/client/visitors/VariableDeclaration.js
index 8cf09c30ea..c8e258e19b 100644
--- a/packages/svelte/src/compiler/phases/3-transform/client/visitors/VariableDeclaration.js
+++ b/packages/svelte/src/compiler/phases/3-transform/client/visitors/VariableDeclaration.js
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ export function VariableDeclaration(node, context) {
 					continue;
 				}
 				if (
-					init.type === 'AwaitExpression' &&
+					init?.type === 'AwaitExpression' &&
 					context.state.analysis.instance?.scope === context.state.scope
 				) {
 					const parallelize = can_be_parallelized(