One other thing I've just discovered , if you use @Html.DisplayFor(x => x.SomeField) on a IEnumerable collection it's only intellisense that doesn't work properly ( you get the IEnumerable properties ) , but if you run it it will work, also I think intellisense rebuilds itself somehow as if I now hover over a x.SomeField object I get the correct class property type once I've actually run the app, stranger and stranger.