diff --git a/goldens/public-api/router/index.api.md b/goldens/public-api/router/index.api.md
index 8fade13d998..72007e4d023 100644
--- a/goldens/public-api/router/index.api.md
+++ b/goldens/public-api/router/index.api.md
@@ -801,7 +801,8 @@ export type RouterHashLocationFeature = RouterFeature<RouterFeatureKind.RouterHa
 class RouterLink implements OnChanges, OnDestroy {
     constructor(router: Router, route: ActivatedRoute, tabIndexAttribute: string | null | undefined, renderer: Renderer2, el: ElementRef, locationStrategy?: LocationStrategy | undefined);
     fragment?: string;
-    href: string | null;
+    get href(): string | null;
+    set href(value: string | null);
     info?: unknown;
     // (undocumented)
     static ngAcceptInputType_preserveFragment: unknown;
@@ -818,6 +819,8 @@ class RouterLink implements OnChanges, OnDestroy {
     preserveFragment: boolean;
     queryParams?: Params | null;
     queryParamsHandling?: QueryParamsHandling | null;
+    // (undocumented)
+    protected readonly reactiveHref: i0.WritableSignal<string | null>;
     relativeTo?: ActivatedRoute | null;
     replaceUrl: boolean;
     set routerLink(commandsOrUrlTree: readonly any[] | string | UrlTree | null | undefined);
diff --git a/packages/core/test/bundling/router/bundle.golden_symbols.json b/packages/core/test/bundling/router/bundle.golden_symbols.json
index bc84bd940ab..bc1a58c474f 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/bundling/router/bundle.golden_symbols.json
+++ b/packages/core/test/bundling/router/bundle.golden_symbols.json
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@
   "GuardsCheckEnd",
   "GuardsCheckStart",
   "HistoryStateManager",
+  "HostAttributeToken",
   "INITIAL_NAVIGATION",
   "INITIAL_VALUE",
   "INJECTOR",
@@ -633,6 +634,7 @@
   "producerNotifyConsumers",
   "producerRemoveLiveConsumerAtIndex",
   "producerUpdateValueVersion",
+  "producerUpdatesAllowed",
   "profiler",
   "profilerCallbacks",
   "readableStreamLikeToAsyncGenerator",
@@ -689,6 +691,9 @@
   "shimStylesContent",
   "shouldAddViewToDom",
   "shouldSearchParent",
+  "signal",
+  "signalAsReadonlyFn",
+  "signalSetFn",
   "split",
   "squashSegmentGroup",
   "standardizeConfig",
@@ -711,6 +716,7 @@
   "throwCyclicDependencyError",
   "throwError2",
   "throwIfEmpty",
+  "throwInvalidWriteToSignalError",
   "throwInvalidWriteToSignalErrorFn",
   "throwProviderNotFoundError",
   "timeoutProvider",
@@ -748,9 +754,11 @@
   "ɵɵelementStart",
   "ɵɵgetInheritedFactory",
   "ɵɵinject",
+  "ɵɵinjectAttribute",
   "ɵɵlistener",
   "ɵɵsanitizeResourceUrl",
   "ɵɵsanitizeUrl",
+  "ɵɵsanitizeUrlOrResourceUrl",
   "ɵɵtext",
   "ɵɵtextInterpolate1"
 ]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/router/src/directives/router_link.ts b/packages/router/src/directives/router_link.ts
index a78f19b67f3..b1e214cfa59 100644
--- a/packages/router/src/directives/router_link.ts
+++ b/packages/router/src/directives/router_link.ts
@@ -20,9 +20,11 @@ import {
   Renderer2,
   ɵRuntimeError as RuntimeError,
   SimpleChanges,
-  ɵɵsanitizeUrlOrResourceUrl,
   ɵINTERNAL_APPLICATION_ERROR_HANDLER,
   inject,
+  signal,
+  untracked,
+  HostAttributeToken,
 } from '@angular/core';
 import {Subject, Subscription} from 'rxjs';
 
@@ -142,14 +144,25 @@ import {RuntimeErrorCode} from '../errors';
  */
 @Directive({
   selector: '[routerLink]',
+  host: {
+    '[attr.href]': 'reactiveHref()',
+  },
 })
 export class RouterLink implements OnChanges, OnDestroy {
+  /** @nodoc */
+  protected readonly reactiveHref = signal<string | null>(null);
   /**
    * Represents an `href` attribute value applied to a host element,
    * when a host element is an `<a>`/`<area>` tag or a compatible custom element.
    * For other tags, the value is `null`.
    */
-  href: string | null = null;
+  get href() {
+    return untracked(this.reactiveHref);
+  }
+  /** @deprecated */
+  set href(value: string | null) {
+    this.reactiveHref.set(value);
+  }
 
   /**
    * Represents the `target` attribute on a host element.
@@ -222,6 +235,8 @@ export class RouterLink implements OnChanges, OnDestroy {
     private readonly el: ElementRef,
     private locationStrategy?: LocationStrategy,
   ) {
+    // Set the initial href value to whatever exists on the host element already
+    this.reactiveHref.set(inject(new HostAttributeToken('href'), {optional: true}));
     const tagName = el.nativeElement.tagName?.toLowerCase();
     this.isAnchorElement =
       tagName === 'a' ||
@@ -392,30 +407,11 @@ export class RouterLink implements OnChanges, OnDestroy {
 
   private updateHref(): void {
     const urlTree = this.urlTree;
-    this.href =
+    this.reactiveHref.set(
       urlTree !== null && this.locationStrategy
-        ? this.locationStrategy?.prepareExternalUrl(this.router.serializeUrl(urlTree))
-        : null;
-
-    const sanitizedValue =
-      this.href === null
-        ? null
-        : // This class represents a directive that can be added to both `<a>` elements,
-          // as well as other elements. As a result, we can't define security context at
-          // compile time. So the security context is deferred to runtime.
-          // The `ɵɵsanitizeUrlOrResourceUrl` selects the necessary sanitizer function
-          // based on the tag and property names. The logic mimics the one from
-          // `packages/compiler/src/schema/dom_security_schema.ts`, which is used at compile time.
-          //
-          // Note: we should investigate whether we can switch to using `@HostBinding('attr.href')`
-          // instead of applying a value via a renderer, after a final merge of the
-          // `RouterLinkWithHref` directive.
-          ɵɵsanitizeUrlOrResourceUrl(
-            this.href,
-            this.el.nativeElement.tagName.toLowerCase(),
-            'href',
-          );
-    this.applyAttributeValue('href', sanitizedValue);
+        ? (this.locationStrategy?.prepareExternalUrl(this.router.serializeUrl(urlTree)) ?? '')
+        : null,
+    );
   }
 
   private applyAttributeValue(attrName: string, attrValue: string | null) {