diff --git a/app/models/custom_attribute.rb b/app/models/custom_attribute.rb
index 927694cde15..5f4e33b0f14 100644
--- a/app/models/custom_attribute.rb
+++ b/app/models/custom_attribute.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,16 @@ class CustomAttribute < ApplicationRecord
   belongs_to :resource, :polymorphic => true
   serialize :serialized_value
 
+  def value=(value)
+    self.serialized_value = value
+    self[:value] = value
+  end
+
   def stored_on_provider?
     source == "VC"
   end
+
+  def value_type
+    serialized_value ? serialized_value.class.to_s.downcase.to_sym : :string
+  end
 end
diff --git a/lib/miq_expression.rb b/lib/miq_expression.rb
index f9d0ce5dc11..cdbf0ad851b 100644
--- a/lib/miq_expression.rb
+++ b/lib/miq_expression.rb
@@ -1308,6 +1308,7 @@ def self.get_col_type(field)
 
     model = determine_model(model, parts)
     return nil if model.nil?
+    return Field.parse(field).column_type if col.include?(CustomAttributeMixin::CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_PREFIX)
 
     col_type(model, col)
   end
diff --git a/lib/miq_expression/field.rb b/lib/miq_expression/field.rb
index a1a6d5e4cb2..ccb3a74d2fa 100644
--- a/lib/miq_expression/field.rb
+++ b/lib/miq_expression/field.rb
@@ -82,8 +82,20 @@ def contains(other)
     )
   end
 
+  def column_type
+    if custom_attribute_column?
+      CustomAttribute.where(:name => custom_attribute_column_name, :resource_type => model.to_s).first.try(:value_type)
+    else
+      target.type_for_attribute(column).type
+    end
+  end
+
   private
 
+  def custom_attribute_column_name
+    column.gsub(CustomAttributeMixin::CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_PREFIX, "")
+  end
+
   class WhereExtractionVisitor < Arel::Visitors::PostgreSQL
     def visit_Arel_Nodes_SelectStatement(o, collector)
       collector = o.cores.inject(collector) do |c, x|
@@ -127,8 +139,4 @@ def extract_where_values(klass, scope)
   def arel_attribute
     target.arel_attribute(column)
   end
-
-  def column_type
-    target.type_for_attribute(column).type
-  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/lib/miq_expression_spec.rb b/spec/lib/miq_expression_spec.rb
index 5fbcd9aff0e..7504b15db21 100644
--- a/spec/lib/miq_expression_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/miq_expression_spec.rb
@@ -1626,12 +1626,36 @@
 
   describe ".get_col_type" do
     subject { described_class.get_col_type(@field) }
+    let(:string_custom_attribute) do
+      FactoryGirl.create(:custom_attribute,
+                         :name          => "foo",
+                         :value         => "string",
+                         :resource_type => 'ExtManagementSystem')
+    end
+    let(:date_custom_attribute) do
+      FactoryGirl.create(:custom_attribute,
+                         :name          => "foo",
+                         :value         => DateTime.current,
+                         :resource_type => 'ExtManagementSystem')
+    end
 
     it "with model-field__with_pivot_table_suffix" do
       @field = "Vm-name__pv"
       expect(subject).to eq(described_class.get_col_type("Vm-name"))
     end
 
+    it "with custom attribute without value_type" do
+      string_custom_attribute
+      @field = "ExtManagementSystem-#{CustomAttributeMixin::CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_PREFIX}foo"
+      expect(subject).to eq(:string)
+    end
+
+    it "with custom attribute with value_type" do
+      date_custom_attribute
+      @field = "ExtManagementSystem-#{CustomAttributeMixin::CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_PREFIX}foo"
+      expect(subject).to eq(:datetime)
+    end
+
     it "with managed-field" do
       @field = "managed.location"
       expect(subject).to eq(:string)
diff --git a/spec/models/custom_attribute_spec.rb b/spec/models/custom_attribute_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6ad97d3a680
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/models/custom_attribute_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+describe CustomAttribute do
+  let(:string_custom_attribute) { FactoryGirl.build(:custom_attribute, :name => "foo", :value => "string", :resource_type => 'ExtManagementSystem') }
+  let(:time_custom_attribute) { FactoryGirl.build(:custom_attribute, :name => "bar", :value => DateTime.current, :resource_type => 'ExtManagementSystem') }
+  let(:int_custom_attribute) { FactoryGirl.build(:custom_attribute, :name => "foobar", :value => 5, :resource_type => 'ExtManagementSystem') }
+
+  it "returns the value type of String custom attributes" do
+    expect(string_custom_attribute.value_type).to eq(:string)
+  end
+
+  it "returns the value type of DateTime custom attributes" do
+    expect(time_custom_attribute.value_type).to eq(:datetime)
+  end
+
+  it "returns the value type of Fixnum custom attributes" do
+    expect(int_custom_attribute.value_type).to eq(:fixnum)
+  end
+end