diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Models/Content.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/Models/Content.cs
index ec73e1ff5e..cef06ec4f7 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Models/Content.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Models/Content.cs
@@ -274,6 +274,9 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Models
         /// </summary>
         public bool HasPublishedVersion { get { return PublishedVersionGuid != default(Guid); } }
 
+        [IgnoreDataMember]
+        internal DateTime PublishedDate { get; set; }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Changes the Trashed state of the content object
         /// </summary>
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Models/Rdbms/DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/Models/Rdbms/DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto.cs
index 4a7e359d91..7c6507f499 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Models/Rdbms/DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Models/Rdbms/DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto.cs
@@ -19,5 +19,8 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Models.Rdbms
 
         [Column("newest")]
         public bool Newest { get; set; }
+
+        [Column("updateDate")]
+        public DateTime VersionDate { get; set; }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/Factories/ContentFactory.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/Factories/ContentFactory.cs
index 0532eab6b1..512f02e8b5 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/Factories/ContentFactory.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/Factories/ContentFactory.cs
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Persistence.Factories
                 content.PublishedVersionGuid = publishedDto == null
                     ? (dto.DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto == null ? default(Guid) : dto.DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto.VersionId)
                     : publishedDto.VersionId;
+                content.PublishedDate = publishedDto == null
+                    ? (dto.DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto == null ? default(DateTime) : dto.DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto.VersionDate)
+                    : publishedDto.VersionDate;
 
                 //on initial construction we don't want to have dirty properties tracked
                 // http://issues.umbraco.org/issue/U4-1946
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/Repositories/ContentRepository.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/Repositories/ContentRepository.cs
index f95c295243..ed55bbeeb1 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/Repositories/ContentRepository.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/Repositories/ContentRepository.cs
@@ -513,11 +513,13 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Persistence.Repositories
                 dto.DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto = new DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto
                 {
                     VersionId = dto.VersionId,
+                    VersionDate = dto.UpdateDate,
                     Newest = true,
                     NodeId = dto.NodeId,
-                    Published = true
+                    Published = true               
                 };
-                ((Content)entity).PublishedVersionGuid = dto.VersionId;
+                ((Content) entity).PublishedVersionGuid = dto.VersionId;
+                ((Content) entity).PublishedDate = dto.UpdateDate;
             }
 
             entity.ResetDirtyProperties();
@@ -687,22 +689,26 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Persistence.Repositories
                 dto.DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto = new DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto
                 {
                     VersionId = dto.VersionId,
+                    VersionDate = dto.UpdateDate,
                     Newest = true,
                     NodeId = dto.NodeId,
                     Published = true
                 };
-                ((Content)entity).PublishedVersionGuid = dto.VersionId;
+                ((Content) entity).PublishedVersionGuid = dto.VersionId;
+                ((Content) entity).PublishedDate = dto.UpdateDate;
             }
             else if (publishedStateChanged)
             {
                 dto.DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto = new DocumentPublishedReadOnlyDto
                 {
-                    VersionId = default(Guid),
+                    VersionId = default (Guid),
+                    VersionDate = default (DateTime),
                     Newest = false,
                     NodeId = dto.NodeId,
                     Published = false
                 };
-                ((Content)entity).PublishedVersionGuid = default(Guid);
+                ((Content) entity).PublishedVersionGuid = default(Guid);
+                ((Content) entity).PublishedDate = default (DateTime);
             }
 
             entity.ResetDirtyProperties();
@@ -974,7 +980,7 @@ order by umbracoNode.{2}, umbracoNode.parentID, umbracoNode.sortOrder",
             }            
 
             //order by update date DESC, if there is corrupted published flags we only want the latest!
-            var publishedSql = new Sql(@"SELECT cmsDocument.nodeId, cmsDocument.published, cmsDocument.versionId, cmsDocument.newest
+            var publishedSql = new Sql(@"SELECT cmsDocument.nodeId, cmsDocument.published, cmsDocument.versionId, cmsDocument.updateDate, cmsDocument.newest
 FROM cmsDocument INNER JOIN cmsContentVersion ON cmsContentVersion.VersionId = cmsDocument.versionId
 WHERE cmsDocument.published = 1 AND cmsDocument.nodeId IN 
 (" + parsedOriginalSql + @")
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web/Models/Mapping/ContentModelMapper.cs b/src/Umbraco.Web/Models/Mapping/ContentModelMapper.cs
index cc2ee79ccb..8942d52360 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web/Models/Mapping/ContentModelMapper.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web/Models/Mapping/ContentModelMapper.cs
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ namespace Umbraco.Web.Models.Mapping
                 .ForMember(display => display.IsContainer, expression => expression.MapFrom(content => content.ContentType.IsContainer))
                 .ForMember(display => display.IsChildOfListView, expression => expression.Ignore())
                 .ForMember(display => display.Trashed, expression => expression.MapFrom(content => content.Trashed))
-                .ForMember(display => display.PublishDate, expression => expression.MapFrom(content => GetPublishedDate(content, applicationContext)))
+                .ForMember(display => display.PublishDate, expression => expression.MapFrom(content => GetPublishedDate(content)))
                 .ForMember(display => display.TemplateAlias, expression => expression.MapFrom(content => content.Template.Alias))
                 .ForMember(display => display.HasPublishedVersion, expression => expression.MapFrom(content => content.HasPublishedVersion))
                 .ForMember(display => display.Urls,
@@ -75,6 +75,12 @@ namespace Umbraco.Web.Models.Mapping
                 .ForMember(dto => dto.Alias, expression => expression.Ignore());
         }
 
+        private static DateTime? GetPublishedDate(IContent content)
+        {
+            var date = ((Content) content).PublishedDate;
+            return date == default (DateTime) ? (DateTime?) null : date;
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Maps the generic tab with custom properties for content
         /// </summary>
@@ -201,27 +207,7 @@ namespace Umbraco.Web.Models.Mapping
         }
 
         /// <summary>
-        /// Gets the published date value for the IContent object
-        /// </summary>
-        /// <param name="content"></param>
-        /// <param name="applicationContext"></param>
-        /// <returns></returns>
-        private static DateTime? GetPublishedDate(IContent content, ApplicationContext applicationContext)
-        {
-            if (content.Published)
-            {
-                return content.UpdateDate;
-            }
-            if (content.HasPublishedVersion)
-            {
                 //TODO: This is horribly inneficient
-                var published = applicationContext.Services.ContentService.GetPublishedVersion(content.Id);
-                return published.UpdateDate;
-            }
-            return null;
-        }
-
-        /// <summary>
         /// Creates the list of action buttons allowed for this user - Publish, Send to publish, save, unpublish returned as the button's 'letter'
         /// </summary>
         private class ActionButtonsResolver : ValueResolver<IContent, IEnumerable<char>>