diff --git a/liboctave/util/oct-locbuf.h b/liboctave/util/oct-locbuf.h
--- a/liboctave/util/oct-locbuf.h
+++ b/liboctave/util/oct-locbuf.h
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ class octave_local_buffer<TYPE> : privat
 { \
 public: \
   octave_local_buffer (size_t size) \
-    : octave_chunk_buffer (size * sizeof (TYPE)) { } \
+    : octave_chunk_buffer (size * sizeof (TYPE)) { } __attribute__ ((aligned (8))) \
  \
   operator TYPE *() const \
   { \