"While London continues to see annual house prices growth slump there are a wealth of areas that have enjoyed double-digit growth"
The increase over 2017 means that house prices rose by £12,000 over the year to average £227,000.
The HPI data shows that the annual growth rate has slowed since mid-2016 but has remained broadly around 5% during 2017.
Prices rose by 5% in England, 5.4% in Wales, 7.7% in Scotland and 4.3% in Northern Ireland.
On a regional basis, the South West showed the highest annual growth, with prices increasing by 7.5% in the year to December 2017. This was followed by the East Midlands and the West Midlands at 6.3%. The lowest annual growth was in London, where prices increased by 2.5% over the year, followed by Yorkshire and The Humber at 2.8%.
The local authority showing the largest annual growth in the year to December 2017 was Orkney Islands, where prices increased by 18.2% to stand at £147,000. The lowest annual growth was recorded in Kensington and Chelsea, where prices fell by 10.7% to stand at £1,212,000.
Founder and CEO of Emoov, Russell Quirk, commented: "Another marginal drop in buyer enquiries, coupled with a continued shortage of new properties coming onto the market, has seen transaction levels continue to dwindle. However, it highlights the severe shortage of stock to satisfy even the most paltry of buyer interest, as prices remain stimulated by the imbalance of supply and demand levels in the market.
"While London continues to see annual house prices growth slump there are a wealth of areas that have enjoyed double-digit growth, with the Orkney Islands not only leading the UK but Scotland as the region with highest annual price growth.
"Despite sitting at the more unaffordable end of the market, Cambridge has seen the second strongest annual price growth in the UK.
"The diversity of the fabric that constructs our overall market is clear to see, with areas across the nation from Eden to Edinburgh, West Dunbartonshire to West Dorset, Manchester to Chichester and much more all enjoying double-digit price growth over the last year."
