A rise in the number of homes on the market should be a welcome stat for Houston shoppers.

The number of active listings of homes in the Houston market reached 22,810 in the third quarter, a 28.2 percent rise over the third quarter of 2014, according to the Texas Association of Realtors' 2015-Q3 Texas Quarterly Housing Report released Monday.

That outpaced the 7.6 percent year-over-year rise in active listings statewide to 102,644 in the third quarter.

"The housing market continued to be strong in Texas during the third quarter, but high housing demand coupled with shortages in labor and lots continued to restrict new home construction, leaving inventory strained," Jim Gaines, chief economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, said in a statement. "Fortunately, more Texans are listing their homes on the market as prices have risen, possibly in expectation of rising interest rates in the future."

Texas home sales were on pace to pass records set in 2007, with both home sales and prices rising in the third quarter. Houston set records last year.

Sales in Texas rose 7.8 percent year-over-year to 91,704 home sales in the third quarter. The median price went up by 7.7 percent year-over-year to $199,900.

Months inventory stood at 4 months in the third quarter of 2015, compared to 3.9 month a year earlier. The number represents how long it would take to sell everything on the market at the current sales pace.

A market is considered balanced when inventories are between 6 and 6.5 months, according to the Texas A&M Real Estate Center, which partners with the Texas Association of Realtors and local Realtor associations on the quarterly reports.

Homes in Texas stayed on the market for an average of 51 days, a decline from 57 days in the same quarter of 2014.

Inventory levels in the Houston market have been extremely tight, but are loosening up. The months inventory rose to 3.4 months in the third quarter compared to 2.7 months in the same quarter of 2014, according to the TAR report.

The median sales price in Houston rose by 6.5 percent year-over-year to $215,000 in the third quarter. The number of home sales rose by 1.3 percent to 23,109 in the third quarter.

Homes in Houston took one day longer to sell in the third quarter or an average of 46 days.

About 45 percent of Houston homes sold for below $200,000 in the third quarter, another 45 percent sold from $200,000 to $499,999, and just under 10 percent sold for $500,000 or more, according to the TAR report.

In a separate report also released Monday, the Houston Association of Realtors provided a report on October sales in its monthly FRESH report.

Realtors added 9,033 properties in the Houston area to the Multiple Listing Service. That's an 11.5 percent rise over the 8,101 new listings in October 2014. The average list price for Houston homes rose to $282,693, up 4.8 percent from $269,619 in October 2014.