diff --git a/app/models/project.rb b/app/models/project.rb
index 15b2d858b62695dd7492b8e3201b8db9beafe0b5..ea8e0ecfd40ef4795d5210ac389247b2fab1ec52 100644
--- a/app/models/project.rb
+++ b/app/models/project.rb
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def saved?
-    id && valid?
+    id && persisted?
   end
 
   def import?
diff --git a/lib/api/projects.rb b/lib/api/projects.rb
index e0c1e338290569cc0bad8aec063b8dc79454c905..d416121a78a9366fff1f332d7c98d3ee72e8b9ab 100644
--- a/lib/api/projects.rb
+++ b/lib/api/projects.rb
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ module Gitlab
                                     :merge_requests_enabled,
                                     :wiki_enabled]
         @project = ::Projects::CreateContext.new(current_user, attrs).execute
-        if @project.persisted?
+        if @project.saved?
           present @project, with: Entities::Project
         else
           not_found!