diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/GetJavaPlatformJar.cs b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/GetJavaPlatformJar.cs
index 5586e0c2ec9..2757d54b138 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/GetJavaPlatformJar.cs
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/GetJavaPlatformJar.cs
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ public class GetJavaPlatformJar : AndroidTask
 
 		public string AndroidManifest { get; set; }
 
+		public bool DesignTimeBuild { get; set; }
+
 		[Output]
 		public string JavaPlatformJarPath { get; set; }
 
@@ -84,12 +86,11 @@ public override bool RunTask ()
 			}
 
 			platform            = GetTargetSdkVersion (platform, target_sdk);
-			JavaPlatformJarPath =  MonoAndroidHelper.TryGetAndroidJarPath (Log, platform);
+			JavaPlatformJarPath =  MonoAndroidHelper.TryGetAndroidJarPath (Log, platform, designTimeBuild: DesignTimeBuild);
+			TargetSdkVersion = MonoAndroidHelper.SupportedVersions.GetApiLevelFromId (platform).ToString ();
 			if (JavaPlatformJarPath == null)
 				return !Log.HasLoggedErrors;
 
-			TargetSdkVersion = MonoAndroidHelper.SupportedVersions.GetApiLevelFromId (platform).ToString ();
-
 			return !Log.HasLoggedErrors;
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/BuildTest.cs b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/BuildTest.cs
index f2d51942134..3e777babfde 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/BuildTest.cs
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/BuildTest.cs
@@ -1365,6 +1365,8 @@ public void IfAndroidJarDoesNotExistThrowXA5207 ()
 				if (!Builder.UseDotNet)
 					proj.TargetFrameworkVersion = builder.LatestTargetFrameworkVersion ();
 				builder.ThrowOnBuildFailure = false;
+				Assert.IsTrue (builder.DesignTimeBuild (proj), "DesignTime build should succeed.");
+				Assert.IsFalse (builder.LastBuildOutput.ContainsText ("error XA5207:"), "XA5207 should not have been raised.");
 				builder.Target = "AndroidPrepareForBuild";
 				Assert.IsFalse (builder.Build (proj, parameters: new string [] {
 					$"AndroidSdkBuildToolsVersion=24.0.1",
diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Utilities/MonoAndroidHelper.cs b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Utilities/MonoAndroidHelper.cs
index e28d3e5d6d6..73485dffb91 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Utilities/MonoAndroidHelper.cs
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Utilities/MonoAndroidHelper.cs
@@ -443,13 +443,15 @@ public static IEnumerable<string> Executables (string executable)
 			yield return executable;
 		}
 
-		public static string TryGetAndroidJarPath (TaskLoggingHelper log, string platform)
+		public static string TryGetAndroidJarPath (TaskLoggingHelper log, string platform, bool designTimeBuild = false)
 		{
 			var platformPath = MonoAndroidHelper.AndroidSdk.TryGetPlatformDirectoryFromApiLevel (platform, MonoAndroidHelper.SupportedVersions);
 			if (platformPath == null) {
-				var expectedPath = MonoAndroidHelper.AndroidSdk.GetPlatformDirectoryFromId (platform);
-				var sdkManagerMenuPath = OS.IsWindows ? Properties.Resources.XA5207_SDK_Manager_Windows : Properties.Resources.XA5207_SDK_Manager_macOS;
-				log.LogCodedError ("XA5207", Properties.Resources.XA5207, platform, Path.Combine (expectedPath, "android.jar"), sdkManagerMenuPath);
+				if (!designTimeBuild) {
+					var expectedPath = MonoAndroidHelper.AndroidSdk.GetPlatformDirectoryFromId (platform);
+					var sdkManagerMenuPath = OS.IsWindows ? Properties.Resources.XA5207_SDK_Manager_Windows : Properties.Resources.XA5207_SDK_Manager_macOS;
+					log.LogCodedError ("XA5207", Properties.Resources.XA5207, platform, Path.Combine (expectedPath, "android.jar"), sdkManagerMenuPath);
+				}
 				return null;
 			}
 			return Path.Combine (platformPath, "android.jar");
diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.Tooling.targets b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.Tooling.targets
index 6b35cf16088..73af03e487f 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.Tooling.targets
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.Tooling.targets
@@ -99,7 +99,9 @@ projects.
   <Target Name="_GetJavaPlatformJar">
     <GetJavaPlatformJar
         AndroidSdkPlatform="$(_AndroidApiLevel)"
-        AndroidManifest="$(_AndroidManifestAbs)">
+        AndroidManifest="$(_AndroidManifestAbs)"
+        DesignTimeBuild="$(DesignTimeBuild)"
+    >
       <Output TaskParameter="JavaPlatformJarPath" PropertyName="JavaPlatformJarPath" />
       <Output TaskParameter="TargetSdkVersion"    PropertyName="_AndroidTargetSdkVersion" />
     </GetJavaPlatformJar>