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The Chinese economy is not heading for a hard landing. Instead, employment and commodity prices will remain stable, and a 6.5 percent growth rate is predicted for 2017, according to a recent report.

The conclusions were drawn from a report by the Senior Research Institute of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. It was officially released at a meeting on China's economic status in 2017, held on Dec. 19.

China's economic growth rate was 6.9 percent in 2015, the result of consecutive year-on-year slips since 2010. That was the lowest it had been since 1990, and also the first six-consecutive-year slip since reform and opening, said Justin Yifu Lin, the honorary director of the China Center for Economic Research and a professor at Peking University. Lin said the economic growth rate was 6.7 percent in the first three quarters of 2016, indicating that a downward trend will persist through the end of the year.

The policy policy in bolstering economic growth has had some effect, but downward pressure is still strong, said Tian Guoqing, leader of the report group and president of the Senior Research Institute of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

If market-driven structural and governance reform works, the average economic growth rate is expected to remain at 7 percent in the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), or else the potential growth rate will plummet to 5.57 percent, according to Tian. He stated that government departments at different levels should implement supply-side structural reform, which is pivotal to making progress while maintaining economic stability.

The report also warned that rising house prices may weaken consumers' purchasing power, calling for the implementation of a real estate tax and legacy tax.