diff --git a/js/id/core/relation.js b/js/id/core/relation.js
index 8fbdd05b2..bd1be9877 100644
--- a/js/id/core/relation.js
+++ b/js/id/core/relation.js
@@ -8,6 +8,14 @@ iD.Relation = iD.Entity.relation = function iD_Relation() {
 
 iD.Relation.prototype = Object.create(iD.Entity.prototype);
 
+iD.Relation.creationOrder = function(a, b) {
+    var aId = parseInt(iD.Entity.id.toOSM(a.id), 10);
+    var bId = parseInt(iD.Entity.id.toOSM(b.id), 10);
+
+    if (aId < 0 || bId < 0) return aId - bId;
+    return bId - aId;
+};
+
 _.extend(iD.Relation.prototype, {
     type: 'relation',
     members: [],
diff --git a/js/id/ui/raw_membership_editor.js b/js/id/ui/raw_membership_editor.js
index ef86f12f7..fbda18c5f 100644
--- a/js/id/ui/raw_membership_editor.js
+++ b/js/id/ui/raw_membership_editor.js
@@ -40,10 +40,11 @@ iD.ui.RawMembershipEditor = function(context) {
     }
 
     function relations(q) {
-        var result = [{
+        var newRelation = {
                 relation: null,
                 value: t('inspector.new_relation')
-            }],
+            },
+            result = [],
             graph = context.graph();
 
         context.intersects(context.extent()).forEach(function(entity) {
@@ -63,6 +64,11 @@ iD.ui.RawMembershipEditor = function(context) {
             });
         });
 
+        result.sort(function(a, b) {
+            return iD.Relation.creationOrder(a.relation, b.relation);
+        });
+        result.unshift(newRelation);
+
         return result;
     }
 
diff --git a/test/spec/core/relation.js b/test/spec/core/relation.js
index 103928e2b..f0de2b1ad 100644
--- a/test/spec/core/relation.js
+++ b/test/spec/core/relation.js
@@ -470,4 +470,20 @@ describe('iD.Relation', function () {
             expect(r.multipolygon(g)).to.eql([[[a.loc, b.loc, c.loc]]]);
         });
     });
+
+    describe(".creationOrder comparator", function () {
+        specify("orders existing relations newest-first", function () {
+            var a = iD.Relation({ id: 'r1' }),
+                b = iD.Relation({ id: 'r2' });
+            expect(iD.Relation.creationOrder(a, b)).to.be.above(0);
+            expect(iD.Relation.creationOrder(b, a)).to.be.below(0);
+        });
+
+        specify("orders new relations newest-first", function () {
+            var a = iD.Relation({ id: 'r-1' }),
+                b = iD.Relation({ id: 'r-2' });
+            expect(iD.Relation.creationOrder(a, b)).to.be.above(0);
+            expect(iD.Relation.creationOrder(b, a)).to.be.below(0);
+        });
+    });
 });