diff --git a/django/db/backends/creation.py b/django/db/backends/creation.py
index 75f07926c1..57e3f7762d 100644
--- a/django/db/backends/creation.py
+++ b/django/db/backends/creation.py
@@ -379,9 +379,10 @@ class BaseDatabaseCreation(object):
         # default site may or may not be 1, depending on how the sequence was
         # reset.  If the sites app is loaded, then we coerce it.
         from django.db.models import get_model
-        Site = get_model('sites', 'Site')
-        if Site is not None and Site.objects.using(self.connection.alias).count() == 1:
-            Site.objects.using(self.connection.alias).update(id=settings.SITE_ID)
+        if 'django.contrib.sites' in settings.INSTALLED_APPS:
+            Site = get_model('sites', 'Site')
+            if Site is not None and Site.objects.using(self.connection.alias).count() == 1:
+                Site.objects.using(self.connection.alias).update(id=settings.SITE_ID)
 
         from django.core.cache import get_cache
         from django.core.cache.backends.db import BaseDatabaseCache