diff --git a/rest_framework/compat.py b/rest_framework/compat.py
index dd30636f4..9a3fa5f58 100644
--- a/rest_framework/compat.py
+++ b/rest_framework/compat.py
@@ -128,13 +128,6 @@ def value_from_object(field, obj):
     field.value_from_object(obj)
 
 
-# contrib.postgres only supported from 1.8 onwards.
-try:
-    from django.contrib.postgres import fields as postgres_fields
-except ImportError:
-    postgres_fields = None
-
-
 # JSONField is only supported from 1.9 onwards
 try:
     from django.contrib.postgres.fields import JSONField
diff --git a/rest_framework/serializers.py b/rest_framework/serializers.py
index 698730f53..ae080b628 100644
--- a/rest_framework/serializers.py
+++ b/rest_framework/serializers.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 import warnings
 
+from django.contrib.postgres import fields as postgres_fields
 from django.db import models
 from django.db.models import DurationField as ModelDurationField
 from django.db.models.fields import Field as DjangoModelField
@@ -22,7 +23,7 @@ from django.utils.functional import cached_property
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 
 from rest_framework.compat import JSONField as ModelJSONField
-from rest_framework.compat import postgres_fields, unicode_to_repr
+from rest_framework.compat import unicode_to_repr
 from rest_framework.utils import model_meta
 from rest_framework.utils.field_mapping import (
     ClassLookupDict, get_field_kwargs, get_nested_relation_kwargs,