diff --git a/packages/rich-text/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/rich-text/CHANGELOG.md
index 0e9ef7674dc481..aadcae6d607998 100644
--- a/packages/rich-text/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/rich-text/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+## 3.0.3 (Unreleased)
+
+### Internal
+
+- Internal performance optimizations to avoid excessive expensive creation of DOM documents.
+
 ## 3.0.2 (2018-11-21)
 
 ## 3.0.1 (2018-11-20)
diff --git a/packages/rich-text/src/create-element.js b/packages/rich-text/src/create-element.js
index 0e2f6f3572fdf8..eebbe450075e80 100644
--- a/packages/rich-text/src/create-element.js
+++ b/packages/rich-text/src/create-element.js
@@ -1,13 +1,25 @@
 /**
  * Parse the given HTML into a body element.
  *
+ * Note: The current implementation will return a shared reference, reset on
+ * each call to `createElement`. Therefore, you should not hold a reference to
+ * the value to operate upon asynchronously, as it may have unexpected results.
+ *
  * @param {HTMLDocument} document The HTML document to use to parse.
  * @param {string}       html     The HTML to parse.
  *
  * @return {HTMLBodyElement} Body element with parsed HTML.
  */
 export function createElement( { implementation }, html ) {
-	const { body } = implementation.createHTMLDocument( '' );
-	body.innerHTML = html;
-	return body;
+	// Because `createHTMLDocument` is an expensive operation, and with this
+	// function being internal to `rich-text` (full control in avoiding a risk
+	// of asynchronous operations on the shared reference), a single document
+	// is reused and reset for each call to the function.
+	if ( ! createElement.body ) {
+		createElement.body = implementation.createHTMLDocument( '' ).body;
+	}
+
+	createElement.body.innerHTML = html;
+
+	return createElement.body;
 }
diff --git a/packages/rich-text/src/test/to-dom.js b/packages/rich-text/src/test/to-dom.js
index 92cc47aa28846e..16fed3f66d0a26 100644
--- a/packages/rich-text/src/test/to-dom.js
+++ b/packages/rich-text/src/test/to-dom.js
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ describe( 'applyValue', () => {
 
 	cases.forEach( ( { current, future, description, movedCount } ) => {
 		it( description, () => {
-			const body = createElement( document, current );
-			const futureBody = createElement( document, future );
+			const body = createElement( document, current ).cloneNode( true );
+			const futureBody = createElement( document, future ).cloneNode( true );
 			const childNodes = Array.from( futureBody.childNodes );
 			applyValue( futureBody, body );
 			const count = childNodes.reduce( ( acc, { parentNode } ) => {
diff --git a/packages/rich-text/src/to-dom.js b/packages/rich-text/src/to-dom.js
index b582c77083d9a0..1c34d8680dd2b3 100644
--- a/packages/rich-text/src/to-dom.js
+++ b/packages/rich-text/src/to-dom.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
  */
 
 import { toTree } from './to-tree';
+import { createElement } from './create-element';
 
 /**
  * Browser dependencies
@@ -58,10 +59,17 @@ function getNodeByPath( node, path ) {
 	};
 }
 
-function createEmpty() {
-	const { body } = document.implementation.createHTMLDocument( '' );
-	return body;
-}
+/**
+ * Returns a new instance of a DOM tree upon which RichText operations can be
+ * applied.
+ *
+ * Note: The current implementation will return a shared reference, reset on
+ * each call to `createEmpty`. Therefore, you should not hold a reference to
+ * the value to operate upon asynchronously, as it may have unexpected results.
+ *
+ * @return {WPRichTextTree} RichText tree.
+ */
+const createEmpty = () => createElement( document, '' );
 
 function append( element, child ) {
 	if ( typeof child === 'string' ) {