Activity was driven by remortgage lending, with over two thirds of buy-to-let loans remortgages rather than house purchase.
Remortgage activity saw a 5% drop month-on-month, but lending remains 14% higher than a year ago.
Homeowners, first-time buyers and homemovers all saw a strong November, with lending up 5%, 4% and 7% respectively.
Paul Smee, director general of the CML, commented: "November lending reflected stable market conditions. Overall, 2016 did not match recent years in terms of house purchase lending growth, but lending remained resilient through regulatory and political change and aspirations for home-ownership remain strong in the UK. Our forecasts for 2017 may be less bullish than a year ago, as economic uncertainty weighs on the market, but we still predict 1.2m transactions and a slight increase in gross lending to £248bn.
"Buy-to-let lending, driven by remortgage activity, saw its strongest monthly lending level since the stamp duty changes on second properties introduced last April. Despite this, we expect buy-to-let lending levels in both 2016 and 2017 to prove lower than their 2015 recent peak as further tax changes take effect."
John Phillips, group operations director at Just Mortgages and Spicerhaart, added: “It is important to remember that we’re going through an adjustment period and, although property transactions may dip slightly due to economic uncertainties, regulatory changes and tax burdens, the market remains resilient thanks to low interest rates and deals from lenders.
“However, in terms of buy-to-let, more changes face landlords in the form of tougher affordability checks and the start of the withdrawal of tax relief on mortgage interest. The slower growth in landlord’s portfolios comes as no surprise given the new minimum expectations for underwriting standards in buy-to-let mortgages.
“Although the mentality of property investment is still quite embedded, the current weakness in the supply of new homes will continue to affect the market and it will be interesting to see what comes out of the government’s housing white paper later this month.
“Due to the weaker outlook for buy-to-let house purchases, first-time buyers could make up a large portion of net lending going forwards. There still appears to be an appetite to buy or remortgage with aspirations for homeownership remaining strong, and I am confident this will help the market to build momentum throughout 2017.”
