diff --git a/include/libfdt.h b/include/libfdt.h
index e48c21a..74b1d14 100644
--- a/include/libfdt.h
+++ b/include/libfdt.h
@@ -1181,6 +1181,22 @@ static inline int fdt_property_cell(void *fdt, const char *name, uint32_t val)
 {
 	return fdt_property_u32(fdt, name, val);
 }
+
+/**
+ * fdt_property_placeholder - add a new property and return a ptr to its value
+ *
+ * @fdt: pointer to the device tree blob
+ * @name: name of property to add
+ * @len: length of property value in bytes
+ * @valp: returns a pointer to where where the value should be placed
+ *
+ * returns:
+ *	0, on success
+ *	-FDT_ERR_BADMAGIC,
+ *	-FDT_ERR_NOSPACE, standard meanings
+ */
+int fdt_property_placeholder(void *fdt, const char *name, int len, void **valp);
+
 #define fdt_property_string(fdt, name, str) \
 	fdt_property(fdt, name, str, strlen(str)+1)
 int fdt_end_node(void *fdt);
diff --git a/lib/libfdt/fdt_sw.c b/lib/libfdt/fdt_sw.c
index 320a914..345a3ac 100644
--- a/lib/libfdt/fdt_sw.c
+++ b/lib/libfdt/fdt_sw.c
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ static int _fdt_find_add_string(void *fdt, const char *s)
 	return offset;
 }
 
-int fdt_property(void *fdt, const char *name, const void *val, int len)
+int fdt_property_placeholder(void *fdt, const char *name, int len, void **valp)
 {
 	struct fdt_property *prop;
 	int nameoff;
@@ -193,7 +193,19 @@ int fdt_property(void *fdt, const char *name, const void *val, int len)
 	prop->tag = cpu_to_fdt32(FDT_PROP);
 	prop->nameoff = cpu_to_fdt32(nameoff);
 	prop->len = cpu_to_fdt32(len);
-	memcpy(prop->data, val, len);
+	*valp = prop->data;
+	return 0;
+}
+
+int fdt_property(void *fdt, const char *name, const void *val, int len)
+{
+	void *ptr;
+	int ret;
+
+	ret = fdt_property_placeholder(fdt, name, len, &ptr);
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
+	memcpy(ptr, val, len);
 	return 0;
 }