gistfile1.py

class PropertyMeta(type):

    def __new__(metaclass, name, bases, body):
        if bases == (object,):
            return super(PropertyMeta, metaclass).__new__(metaclass, name, bases, body)
        return property(**{k.strip("__"): v for k, v in body.iteritems() if k in ("fget", "fset", "fdel", "__doc__")})

class xproperty(object):
    __metaclass__ = PropertyMeta


class Foo(object):

    def __init__(self):
        self._foo = 42

    class foo(xproperty):
        """The foo property."""
        def fget(self):
            return self._foo
        def fset(self, value):
            self._foo = value
        def fdel(self):
            del self._foo

x = Foo()
print x.foo
x.foo = 13
print x._foo
del x.foo
print hasattr(x, "_foo")

Nice, but why a metaclass, not a decorator?

def yproperty(clazz):
    return property(**{
        k.strip("__"): v
        for k, v in clazz.__dict__.iteritems()
        if k in ("fget", "fset", "fdel", "__doc__")})

Seems simpler this way, are there any downsides I'm missing?