diff --git a/maven-compat/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/repository/DefaultArtifactRepository.java b/maven-compat/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/repository/DefaultArtifactRepository.java
index 87a39f0ca6..62a498012f 100644
--- a/maven-compat/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/repository/DefaultArtifactRepository.java
+++ b/maven-compat/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/repository/DefaultArtifactRepository.java
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ public class DefaultArtifactRepository
 
     private ArtifactRepositoryPolicy releases;
 
-    private boolean uniqueVersion;
+    private boolean uniqueVersion = true;
 
     private boolean blacklisted;