diff --git a/rewrite-maven/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/maven/tree/ResolvedPom.java b/rewrite-maven/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/maven/tree/ResolvedPom.java
index d23f22dbe2c..7f5a0d343e1 100644
--- a/rewrite-maven/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/maven/tree/ResolvedPom.java
+++ b/rewrite-maven/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/maven/tree/ResolvedPom.java
@@ -281,7 +281,9 @@ public String getPackaging() {
         if (property == null) {
             return null;
         }
-        String propVal = properties.get(property);
+        // Maven allows system properties to override project properties
+        // This facilitates the usage of "-D" arguments on the command line to customize builds
+        String propVal = System.getProperty(property, properties.get(property));
         if (propVal != null) {
             return propVal;
         }
diff --git a/rewrite-maven/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/maven/MavenParserTest.java b/rewrite-maven/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/maven/MavenParserTest.java
index cef61f90ef3..3b3367c23ff 100644
--- a/rewrite-maven/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/maven/MavenParserTest.java
+++ b/rewrite-maven/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/maven/MavenParserTest.java
@@ -3358,4 +3358,33 @@ void exclusionsAffectTransitiveDependencies() {
           )
         );
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void systemPropertyTakesPrecedence() {
+        System.setProperty("hatversion", "2.3.0");
+        rewriteRun(
+          pomXml(
+            """
+              <project>
+                <groupId>com.mycompany.app</groupId>
+                <artifactId>parent</artifactId>
+                <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+                <packaging>pom</packaging>
+                <name>parent</name>
+                <url>http://www.example.com</url>
+                <properties>
+                  <hatversion>SYSTEM_PROPERTY_SHOULD_OVERRIDE_THIS</hatversion>
+                </properties>
+                <dependencies>
+                    <dependency>
+                        <groupId>org.springframework.hateoas</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>spring-hateoas</artifactId>
+                        <version>${hatversion}</version>
+                    </dependency>
+                </dependencies>
+              </project>
+              """
+          )
+        );
+    }
 }