diff --git a/src/OpenMesh/Core/Mesh/AttribKernelT.hh b/src/OpenMesh/Core/Mesh/AttribKernelT.hh
index 3d4d2046..8dc1a2b8 100644
--- a/src/OpenMesh/Core/Mesh/AttribKernelT.hh
+++ b/src/OpenMesh/Core/Mesh/AttribKernelT.hh
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ public:
   void set_point(VertexHandle _vh, const Point& _p)
   { this->property(points_, _vh) = _p; }
 
-  PointsPropertyHandle& points_property_handle()
+  const PointsPropertyHandle& points_property_handle() const
   { return points_; }