diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/repo.py b/lib/spack/spack/repo.py
index 78e60457e36..1d2eb4a083a 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/repo.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/repo.py
@@ -1374,20 +1374,10 @@ def get_pkg_class(self, pkg_name):
         # sets attributes that it used to)
         new_overidden_attrs = {}
         for key, val in new_cfg_settings.items():
-            if hasattr(cls, key):
-                new_overidden_attrs[key] = getattr(cls, key)
-            if isinstance(val, dict):
-                t = val.get("type", "string")
-                v = val["value"]
-                if t == "int":
-                    v = int(v)
-                elif t == "float":
-                    v = float(v)
-                elif t == "boolean":
-                    v = yaml.load(v)
-                setattr(cls, key, v)
-            else:
-                setattr(cls, key, val)
+            if key not in ["git", "url", "submodules"]:
+                # Infer type
+                val = yaml.load(val)
+            setattr(cls, key, val)
         if new_overidden_attrs:
             setattr(cls, "overidden_attrs", dict(new_overidden_attrs))
         elif hasattr(cls, "overidden_attrs"):
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/schema/packages.py b/lib/spack/spack/schema/packages.py
index d6431ad18fc..57a20e6ee57 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/schema/packages.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/schema/packages.py
@@ -100,17 +100,7 @@
                         },
                         "patternProperties": {
                             r"\w[\w-]*": {
-                                "type": "object",
-                                "additionalProperties": False,
-                                "properties": {
-                                    "value": {
-                                        "type": "string",
-                                    },
-                                    "type": {
-                                        "type": "string",
-                                        "enum": ["int", "float", "boolean"],
-                                    },
-                                },
+                                "type": "string",
                             },
                         },
                     },
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/concretize_preferences.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/concretize_preferences.py
index 04057bfac4a..a80cb1a8590 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/concretize_preferences.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/concretize_preferences.py
@@ -202,16 +202,7 @@ def test_config_set_package_property(self, mutable_mock_repo):
         update_packages(
             "mpileaks",
             "package_attributes",
-            {
-                "x": {
-                    "value": "1",
-                    "type": "int",
-                },
-                "y": {
-                    "value": "true",
-                    "type": "boolean",
-                },
-            },
+            {"x": "1", "y": "true"},
         )
         spec = concretize("mpileaks")
         assert spec.package.x == 1