diff --git a/pandas/_libs/lib.pyx b/pandas/_libs/lib.pyx
index 53ca41e4b2489..01548e17d39ab 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/lib.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/lib.pyx
@@ -1907,5 +1907,4 @@ cdef class BlockPlacement:
 
 
 include "reduce.pyx"
-include "properties.pyx"
 include "inference.pyx"
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/src/properties.pyx b/pandas/_libs/properties.pyx
similarity index 95%
rename from pandas/_libs/src/properties.pyx
rename to pandas/_libs/properties.pyx
index 4a3fd4b771a17..22d66356ebdc3 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/src/properties.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/properties.pyx
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
+
+from cython cimport Py_ssize_t
+
 from cpython cimport (
-    PyDict_Contains, PyDict_GetItem, PyDict_GetItem, PyDict_SetItem)
+    PyDict_Contains, PyDict_GetItem, PyDict_SetItem)
 
 
 cdef class cache_readonly(object):
diff --git a/pandas/core/generic.py b/pandas/core/generic.py
index a71bf7be1bc75..e0a9fdb08dcb2 100644
--- a/pandas/core/generic.py
+++ b/pandas/core/generic.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
 
-from pandas._libs import tslib, lib
+from pandas._libs import tslib, lib, properties
 from pandas.core.dtypes.common import (
     _ensure_int64,
     _ensure_object,
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ def _setup_axes(cls, axes, info_axis=None, stat_axis=None, aliases=None,
         if build_axes:
 
             def set_axis(a, i):
-                setattr(cls, a, lib.AxisProperty(i))
+                setattr(cls, a, properties.AxisProperty(i))
                 cls._internal_names_set.add(a)
 
             if axes_are_reversed:
diff --git a/pandas/util/_decorators.py b/pandas/util/_decorators.py
index bb7ffe45c689b..31e27817913c5 100644
--- a/pandas/util/_decorators.py
+++ b/pandas/util/_decorators.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from pandas.compat import callable, signature
-from pandas._libs.lib import cache_readonly  # noqa
+from pandas._libs.properties import cache_readonly  # noqa
 import types
 import warnings
 from textwrap import dedent
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0e4e22b875e1d..d28c4ba8be5b0 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -437,7 +437,7 @@ def get_tag(self):
     cmdclass['build_src'] = DummyBuildSrc
     cmdclass['build_ext'] = CheckingBuildExt
 
-lib_depends = ['reduce', 'inference', 'properties']
+lib_depends = ['reduce', 'inference']
 
 
 def srcpath(name=None, suffix='.pyx', subdir='src'):
@@ -478,6 +478,7 @@ def pxd(name):
 ext_data = {
     '_libs.lib': {'pyxfile': '_libs/lib',
                   'depends': lib_depends + tseries_depends},
+    '_libs.properties': {'pyxfile': '_libs/properties', 'include': []},
     '_libs.hashtable': {'pyxfile': '_libs/hashtable',
                         'pxdfiles': ['_libs/hashtable'],
                         'depends': (['pandas/_libs/src/klib/khash_python.h']