Police were called to Beedell Avenue in Westcliff at 21:30 BST after reports a man had collapsed. When they arrived, the man, in his 50s, was already dead.
The arrested men, aged 30 and 46, from Westcliff, remain in custody.
Essex Police said they did not believe it was a "random attack".
A forensic examination of the property, made up of a number of bedsits, is continuing.
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a man who died from suspected stab wounds at a house in Essex.