diff --git a/packages/react/src/runtime/pages-client.ts b/packages/react/src/runtime/pages-client.ts
index ef1daf104..e3f6a875c 100644
--- a/packages/react/src/runtime/pages-client.ts
+++ b/packages/react/src/runtime/pages-client.ts
@@ -327,15 +327,11 @@ function RouteResource({
     }
   }, [onCommit, resource, result]);
 
-  if (!result) {
-    return null;
-  }
-
-  const pageData = result.pageData as ReactPageData;
-  const PageComponent = result.component as ReactPageComponent;
-  const routeParams = pageData.params ?? EMPTY_PARAMS;
+  const pageData = result?.pageData as ReactPageData | undefined;
+  const pageDataUrl = pageData?.url ?? '';
+  const routeParams = pageData?.params ?? EMPTY_PARAMS;
   const routeRouter = useMemo(() => {
-    const pageUrl = encodedPageUrl(pageData.url);
+    const pageUrl = encodedPageUrl(pageDataUrl);
     return createRouterFacade(
       outerRouter!,
       () => {
@@ -356,7 +352,14 @@ function RouteResource({
       },
       () => routeParams,
     );
-  }, [outerRouter, pageData.url, resource.fetchUrl, resource.hash, routeParams]);
+  }, [outerRouter, pageDataUrl, resource.fetchUrl, resource.hash, routeParams]);
+
+  // Hooks above run on every render, so a resource with no result keeps the hook count.
+  if (!result || !pageData) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  const PageComponent = result.component as ReactPageComponent;
   let element = React.createElement(PageComponent, pageData.props);
   for (let i = result.layouts.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
     const Layout = result.layouts[i] as ReactLayoutComponent;
@@ -559,11 +562,8 @@ function App({
               if (activePendingNavigationId === prepared.id) {
                 activePendingNavigationId = null;
               }
-              dispatch({
-                type: NavigationFallback ? 'abandon' : 'finish',
-                resource: prepared,
-                location: currentUrl(),
-              });
+              // The browser is leaving or downloading a file: keep the current page.
+              dispatch({ type: 'abandon', resource: prepared, location: currentUrl() });
               resolveVisit(undefined);
             } else if (prepared.options._resolveOnShell) {
               pendingVisitSettlers.delete(prepared.id);
diff --git a/packages/react/test/integration/react-pages-client.test.ts b/packages/react/test/integration/react-pages-client.test.ts
index f936a54e4..ff4cbc3d2 100644
--- a/packages/react/test/integration/react-pages-client.test.ts
+++ b/packages/react/test/integration/react-pages-client.test.ts
@@ -526,6 +526,45 @@ function registerClientTests(getBase: () => string, coverage: 'smoke' | 'full')
     }
   });
 
+  it('Link keeps the current page when the target downloads a file', async () => {
+    const page = await newPage();
+    const errors: Array<string> = [];
+    page.on('pageerror', (error) => {
+      errors.push(error.message);
+    });
+
+    try {
+      // A non-Void response makes the client fall back to a full page load, which only
+      // downloads the file, so the current page must stay on screen.
+      await page.route(BASE + '/users', (route) =>
+        route.fulfill({
+          status: 200,
+          headers: {
+            'content-type': 'text/csv',
+            'content-disposition': 'attachment; filename="users.csv"',
+          },
+          body: 'id,name\n1,Ada\n',
+        }),
+      );
+      await page.goto(BASE + '/link-behavior');
+      await waitForHydration(page);
+
+      const download = page.waitForEvent('download');
+      await page.click('[data-testid="onclick-link"]');
+      await download;
+      await page.waitForFunction(
+        () =>
+          document.querySelector('[data-testid="navigation-state"]')?.textContent === 'idle' &&
+          document.querySelector('h1')?.textContent === 'Link Behavior',
+      );
+
+      expect(errors).toEqual([]);
+      expect(page.url()).toBe(BASE + '/link-behavior');
+    } finally {
+      await page.context().close();
+    }
+  });
+
   it('Link hash navigation runs the navigation lifecycle', async () => {
     const page = await newPage();
     try {