diff --git a/versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/versions/SetMojo.java b/versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/versions/SetMojo.java
index 57e25182db..c4bdc8eafb 100644
--- a/versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/versions/SetMojo.java
+++ b/versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/versions/SetMojo.java
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@
 import org.codehaus.plexus.components.interactivity.PrompterException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.StringUtils;
 
-import static java.util.Optional.ofNullable;
 import static org.codehaus.plexus.util.StringUtils.isEmpty;
 
 /**
@@ -252,6 +251,15 @@ public class SetMojo extends AbstractVersionsUpdaterMojo {
      */
     protected final ProjectBuilder projectBuilder;
 
+    /**
+     * If set to {@code false}, the plugin will not interpolate property values when looking for versions
+     * to be changed, but will instead operate on raw model.
+     *
+     * @since 2.15.0
+     */
+    @Parameter(property = "interpolateProperties", defaultValue = "true")
+    protected boolean interpolateProperties = true;
+
     @Inject
     public SetMojo(
             RepositorySystem repositorySystem,
@@ -350,17 +358,16 @@ public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException {
                     Pattern.compile(RegexUtils.convertWildcardsToRegex(fixNullOrEmpty(oldVersion, "*"), true));
 
             for (Model m : reactor.values()) {
-                Map<String, String> properties = ofNullable(m.getProperties())
-                        .map(p -> p.entrySet().stream()
-                                .collect(Collectors.toMap(e -> e.getKey().toString(), e -> e.getValue()
-                                        .toString())))
-                        .orElse(null);
-
                 String mGroupId = PomHelper.getGroupId(m);
                 String mArtifactId = PomHelper.getArtifactId(m);
                 String mVersion = PomHelper.getVersion(m);
 
-                if (properties != null) {
+                if (interpolateProperties) {
+                    assert m.getProperties() != null; // always non-null
+                    Map<String, String> properties = m.getProperties().entrySet().stream()
+                            .collect(Collectors.toMap(e -> e.getKey().toString(), e -> e.getValue()
+                                    .toString()));
+
                     mGroupId = PomHelper.evaluate(mGroupId, properties);
                     mArtifactId = PomHelper.evaluate(mArtifactId, properties);
                     mVersion = PomHelper.evaluate(mVersion, properties);
diff --git a/versions-maven-plugin/src/test/java/org/codehaus/mojo/versions/SetMojoTest.java b/versions-maven-plugin/src/test/java/org/codehaus/mojo/versions/SetMojoTest.java
index 2a8ac319f9..9bec548845 100644
--- a/versions-maven-plugin/src/test/java/org/codehaus/mojo/versions/SetMojoTest.java
+++ b/versions-maven-plugin/src/test/java/org/codehaus/mojo/versions/SetMojoTest.java
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
+import java.util.function.Consumer;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
 
 import org.apache.maven.model.Model;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
@@ -159,11 +161,12 @@ public void testSetOldVersionMismatchProcessAllModules() throws Exception {
                 not(containsString("<version>bar</version>")));
     }
 
-    private void testSetParameterValue(String filename) throws Exception {
+    private void testSetParameterValue(String filename, Consumer<SetMojo>... initializers) throws Exception {
         Files.copy(
                 Paths.get("src/test/resources/org/codehaus/mojo/set/issue-855/").resolve(filename),
                 tempDir.resolve("pom.xml"));
         SetMojo mojo = (SetMojo) mojoRule.lookupConfiguredMojo(tempDir.toFile(), "set");
+        Stream.of(initializers).forEachOrdered(i -> i.accept(mojo));
         mojo.execute();
         assertThat(
                 String.join("", Files.readAllLines(tempDir.resolve("pom.xml"))),
@@ -175,6 +178,28 @@ public void testSetParameterValueSimple() throws Exception {
         testSetParameterValue("pom-simple.xml");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testSetParameterValueSimpleNoInterpolation() throws Exception {
+        try {
+            testSetParameterValue("pom-simple.xml", mojo -> mojo.interpolateProperties = false);
+            fail();
+        } catch (AssertionError e) {
+            assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("Expected: a string containing \"<version>testing</version>"));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSetParameterValueSimpleNoInterpolationWildcard() throws Exception {
+        testSetParameterValue("pom-simple.xml", mojo -> {
+            mojo.interpolateProperties = false;
+            try {
+                setVariableValueToObject(mojo, "oldVersion", "*");
+            } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
+                throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testSetParameterValueBuildNumber() throws Exception {
         testSetParameterValue("pom-build-number.xml");