diff --git a/numpydoc/docscrape.py b/numpydoc/docscrape.py
index 6ca62922..598b4438 100644
--- a/numpydoc/docscrape.py
+++ b/numpydoc/docscrape.py
@@ -613,7 +613,7 @@ def properties(self):
         return [name for name, func in inspect.getmembers(self._cls)
                 if (not name.startswith('_') and
                     (func is None or isinstance(func, property) or
-                     inspect.isgetsetdescriptor(func))
+                     inspect.isdatadescriptor(func))
                     and self._is_show_member(name))]
 
     def _is_show_member(self, name):
diff --git a/numpydoc/docscrape_sphinx.py b/numpydoc/docscrape_sphinx.py
index 087ddafb..e1135a55 100644
--- a/numpydoc/docscrape_sphinx.py
+++ b/numpydoc/docscrape_sphinx.py
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ def _str_member_list(self, name):
                 param_obj = getattr(self._obj, param, None)
                 if not (callable(param_obj)
                         or isinstance(param_obj, property)
-                        or inspect.isgetsetdescriptor(param_obj)):
+                        or inspect.isdatadescriptor(param_obj)):
                     param_obj = None
 
                 if param_obj and pydoc.getdoc(param_obj):
diff --git a/numpydoc/tests/test_docscrape.py b/numpydoc/tests/test_docscrape.py
index 2fb4eb5a..285afbc4 100644
--- a/numpydoc/tests/test_docscrape.py
+++ b/numpydoc/tests/test_docscrape.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     ParseError
 )
 from numpydoc.docscrape_sphinx import (SphinxDocString, SphinxClassDoc,
-                                       SphinxFunctionDoc)
+                                       SphinxFunctionDoc, get_doc_object)
 from nose.tools import (assert_equal, assert_raises, assert_list_equal,
                         assert_true)
 
@@ -1199,6 +1199,33 @@ def test_templated_sections():
     """)
 
 
+def test_nonstandard_property():
+    # test discovery of a property that does not satisfy isinstace(.., property)
+
+    class SpecialProperty(object):
+
+        def __init__(self, axis=0, doc=""):
+            self.axis = axis
+            self.__doc__ = doc
+
+        def __get__(self, obj, type):
+            if obj is None:
+                # Only instances have actual _data, not classes
+                return self
+            else:
+                return obj._data.axes[self.axis]
+
+        def __set__(self, obj, value):
+            obj._set_axis(self.axis, value)
+
+    class Dummy:
+
+        attr = SpecialProperty(doc="test attribute")
+
+    doc = get_doc_object(Dummy)
+    assert "test attribute" in str(doc)
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import nose
     nose.run()